Fox Tail: Another Fairy Tail Story
by WiseKarasu
Summary: Nearly seven years have passed since the disappearance of Tenrou Island. In this time, new guilds have risen to power, and others are taking their first steps into fame and power. One of there guilds is Fox Tail. This is their time and their story. This is an Elsewhere Fic featuring a new guild to the Fairy Tail universe. Rated T for the same reasons as Fairy Tail would be.
1. Chapter 1: Diamond Dragon!

Chapter 1: Diamond Dragon!

In a world very much like our own lies the kingdom of Fiore, and within this kingdom there exists a great many wizard guilds. These guilds are places where wizards can gather together and take on jobs that require their special skills and prowess in magic. Seven years ago, the most powerful and renowned of these guilds was Fairy Tail, a guild known far and wide for both its unrivaled power and for the trouble its destructive but well-meaning wizards caused. Alas, one dark day the guild's most powerful fighters, including its master, Makarov of the Ten Wizard Saints, disappeared without a trace. Fairy Tail has since fallen into decline, and houses only a handful of members, none of whom are capable of bringing the guild back to its former glory.

The fall of Fairy Tail has left a void in this world, but has also created new opportunities. New wizard guilds have risen to power in its absence, and many more are only taking their first steps into this new world. This is the story of one such guild. This is the story of Fox Tail.

It was late at night, not far outside the village of Pumpkin Town, in a small, unassuming shack. Within its walls lay stacks of crates, covered in spider webs and dust, amongst which scampered a colony of rats. That night, it also housed some much larger rats: smugglers. A rail-thin man, looking very much like a rat himself with his buck-teeth, grey hair, and shifty twitch, stood amongst the crooks, nervously wringing his hands.

"And you're sure no one followed you…?" he stammered.

"Oh for the love of…!" one of the smugglers cried, "For the last time! No one followed us, you paranoid fool! Now show us the damn rocks!" The ratty man flinched, clearly more afraid of the smugglers in front of him than of any council wizards that may or may not have been lurking nearby.

_Crunch… Crunch…_

"Well," the ratty man said, hesitation still hanging in his voice, "I suppose we'd better get this over with then… I'll have you know that I went through a lot of trouble to get this thing." He led them over to a specific crate.

_Crunch… Crunch…_

"That better be the case," another smuggler threatened. "The boss only collects the rarest gems out there. So if this is some cheap pebble, you can kiss your butt goodbye." The threat made the ratty man stop for a moment, unsure if this was going to be worth it.

"I assure you," he said. "This is one of the biggest, rarest gemstones on the black market. A diamond of extremely high quality! And one that hasn't been peacefully acquired either. It was so well guarded I had to hire some thugs from a dark guild to get it!"

"Well, if this gem is as good as you say it is, you're going to be more than compensated for it," the first smuggler told him.

_Crunch… Crunch…_

"Hey, wait a minute," yet another smuggler said. "Does anyone else hear that?" The crooks all stood stark still, listening.

_Crunch… Crunch…_

"Yeah, I hear it too," said a fourth.

"Gyah!" the ratty man cried. "The lid's loose! What the hell…!?" He flung the lid off, and the crooks all stared at its surprising contents. A teenage girl – dressed in a simple shirt, skirt, long socks, and boots, her silver hair tied in pigtails – was kneeling in the box, alongside what appeared to be a yellow, bespectacled cat with a very round head. The girl seemed to be eating something when she turned her red eyes to the smugglers.

"Oh," she said in mild surprise. "Hello there!" She gave the crooks a friendly wave, which some of them, heavily confused by this turn of events, unconsciously returned. The girl smiled and turned back to her snack. The thieves leaned in closer, trying to figure out what was going on.

"YAAAAAAHH!" they all screamed in unison. "The diamond!" The girl was eating the gem! The cat nudged the girl as she sucked the last fragments off her fingers, like a child who had just finished eating a powdered donut.

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'm sorry, I should have offered you guys some. That was a really rude thing to do…" The smugglers just stared at her, jaws dropping practically to the floor.

"Wait a second!" one of them cried. "What are we doing!? Someone get her!" The girl tipped her head quizzically as the men dove for her. But both the girl and the cat quickly flipped out of the box, leaving several smugglers to fall in and flounder for a moment.

"Uh-oh!" the girl exclaimed. "I think I made them mad! We'd better get out of here, Buddy!" she told the cat. The cat nodded and the duo quickly and nimbly leapt atop the boxes and out a window.

"I…" the ratty man stammered, sweating profusely and shaking like a frightened chihuahua. "I swear I have no idea who that girl was! She must have snuck in the box and…"

"And what are you all waiting for?" The smugglers all turned to the source of the voice, a large, rotund man with a bulbous nose, dressed in a pinstripe suit and carrying a cigar in his mouth. He glared at his men. "Go after her! That chick has the gall to think she can steal from Roqua the Rock. You'd better find her and show her how wrong she is, unless you'd rather see what'll happen to you otherwise."

The smugglers nodded quickly. "Yes, sir!" they called back in unison. With that, they ran out the door as fast as they could.

A young man walked through the streets of Pumpkin Town the next day. He had spiky black hair and wore a brown jacket over a red shirt, brown slacks and simple black shoes. On the back of his right hand was a tattoo of a stylized fox face, surrounded by nine lines that altogether made a shape resembling a flame. His eyes quickly scanned the job-request form he had picked up that morning.

"'Round up Smugglers' huh?" he said to himself. "'Take down Roqua the Rock's gang, suspected to be operating near Pumpkin Town.' Well, that shouldn't be too difficult, and the 50,000 Jewel reward should keep me going for awhile. The only question would be where to start." Some noise to his right caught his attention. He turned to see a crowd of people murmuring and staring upward. He followed their gazes and found a silver-haired girl and a cat standing on the roof of a building, apparently looking for something. "Hm," the boy muttered to himself, "must be the local nutcase. Not really gonna' help me out…"

"HEY YOU!" the girl shouted. Without warning she leapt off the building. Everyone's eyes followed her in shock, the young man's included, as she gracefully arced through the air and landed at his feet. The man had no idea how to react. "Do you know things?" the girl asked.

"Do I…? Wait what?" he stammered, a tad startled.

"Do you know things?" the girl asked again, cocking her head and circling him. The young man kept his eyes focused on her. You never know what the crazy ones will do next. "Buddy says you look like you know things," the girl clarified. "He didn't say what kind of things, but I assumed they had to be important, otherwise he wouldn't tell me that."

_It's official,_ the young man thought. _This one's a loon alright._ "Uh…" he began to ask, "Who's Buddy?"

"_He's _Buddy," the girl declared with an enormous smile on her face, pointing at the cat. "Say 'hello,' Buddy!"

"Hello, Buddy," the cat said.

"You know," the young man pointed out, "normally I'd be a bit surprised by a talking cat, but I think that horrible old joke kinda killed the moment for me." The odd duo seemed to be ignoring him.

"How'd you know his name was Buddy, Kohaku?" the cat asked in genuine surprise.

"Oh!" the girl gasped. "I didn't!" she quickly turned to the young man. "Is it, Buddy?"

"No, actually my name's Mikado," he told her, though he immediately regretted it. _Crap, why did I just tell the crazy person my name?_ he wondered. "And, uh, your name's Kohaku, right?"

The girl gasped again in amazement. "How did you know that!?"

"Obviously he's a spy," the cat, Buddy, explained.

"Really?"

"Makes sense, doesn't it?"

_That's it! I'm outta here!_ Mikado thought as he tried to slip away from the two weirdoes.

"Oh! Wait a second," Kohaku said as she grabbed Mikado's sleeve.

_Crap, this girl's got a good grip!_ the young man thought.

"I need some help," Kohaku explained. "I need help finding my Papa, have you seen him?"

Mikado looked at her for a moment and sighed. _The poor thing's lost, huh?_ he thought._ Makes sense: she seems to be the type that would need a guardian or something._ "What's his name?" he asked as a starter.

"Quartzite," Kohaku told him.

"That's an odd name. Is he a wizard or something?"

"I don't think so…" Kohaku thought that over a little, letting go of Mikado's arm in the process. "Well, he did teach me my magic."

_So she's a wizard too, huh?_ Mikado thought. "Well, when was the last time you saw him?"

"At home," Kohaku explained.

"Okay…"

"About fourteen years ago."

"Oookay, I can see where this is going," Mikado sighed and looked around. Apparently the crowd the girl had attracted earlier had grown tired of this scene and dissipated. "Did you wander off or something?" he asked Kohaku, trying to find a way to wriggle out of this.

"No," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice as she momentarily averted her eyes, which had previously been locked on to Mikado. "He just disappeared one day. I don't even know why." She almost looked like she wanted to cry a little. Now Mikado couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her. He sighed again.

"Look, kid," he started, which was an odd thing to call her since she only seemed a year or two younger than him – her childishness must have thrown him off. "I'd hate to be the one to have to say this, but are you sure your Papa's even alive anymore? Fourteen years is a long time for someone to be missing, especially for a wizard."

"Of course he's still alive!" the cat butted in. "If he was going to die, he would have told Kohaku! He wouldn't have left her waiting or looking for him for nothing! That just doesn't make any sense!"

"Yeah, Buddy's right!" Kohaku agreed, her former sadness now replace with a look of insistence.

_It'd probably be best if I didn't bother to answer that one_, Mikado thought. "Look, I'm really sorry," he said, holding up the job-request, "but I'm kind of in the middle of a job now, and…"

"Oh!" Kohaku exclaimed, grabbing the sheet from his hand. "Okay! We'll help you then!"

"What!?"

"It'd be rude if we asked you to help us without helping you first. What are you doing anyway? This is a job, right? I've seen a lot of people with these before." Her eyes quickly scanned the page. "'Smugglers,' huh? Those are thieves, right? Thieves are bad, just like seagulls! We've definitely got to help you now!"

"Wait, what?" Mikado stammered. "Seagulls?"

"Yeah," Kohaku said with a nod and that same insistent look. "Seagulls are bad 'cause when you're eating popcorn at the beach they just swoop down and take it from you! That's not theirs! Why would they do that!?"

"I have no idea…" Mikado said, trying to figure out how to rein this conversation back in. "I suppose you wouldn't happen to know anything about these smugglers, would you?" It was a long shot. Kohaku shook her head then smiled.

"Nope, but I've gotta a really good sense of smell, so I can find anything!"

_Well_, Mikado thought, _it's not like I have any other leads to go on. Might as well give it a shot. Who knows, maybe she uses some kind of Tracking Magic_. "Lead the way," he insisted, waving into the crowd.

"Okay!" Kohaku shouted with glee. She rushed past Mikado, grabbed his jacket collar, and quickly dragged him behind her.

"Whoa, hey! Slow down kid!" he cried. As he said this, Buddy quickly sprouted a pair of feathery wings and flew behind them. No sooner had they left than two of the smugglers showed up.

"Aw, man, how'd that kid slip away!?" one complained. "How could someone avoid us all night in a dinky little town like this!?"

"Who knows," the other responded. "But we'd better find them soon or boss Roqua's not gonna be thrilled." The first smuggler shuddered at that thought.

"C'mon, let's go!"

"So…" Mikado began. "What's with the cat?" They had been going on like this for a while now. Kohaku had slowed to a gentle walk, but hadn't stopped dragging Mikado. Buddy was simply gliding behind them as Mikado watch, frowning in slight annoyance. They had wandered into the forest surrounding Pumpkin Town by this point. It was clear to him that they were lost, but he figured that 1): These two didn't know that, and 2): There wasn't much point in trying to explain it to them.

"Huh?" Kohaku asked, glancing behind her, still walking. "Buddy? He's my friend."

"Yeah, but why is he flying?"

"Because I'm a cat," Buddy interrupted.

"That is no kind of explanation whatsoever!"

"Yes it is," Buddy said, folding his arms and nodding his head. "I'm a cat, so I can use Aera, Flying Magic. Makes sense, right?"

"Yup!" Kohaku chirped. She stopped and looked around. "Huh? Where are we anyway?"

"You mean you don't know!?" Mikado barked, leaping to his feet. "Where have you been going all this time!?"

"So you came right back to us, huh?" someone with a deep voice asked. The trio turned to find none other than Roqua the Rock and his gang of smugglers. "It was a real pain in the ass trying to track you down, but I guess we could've just waited right here for you, huh?"

"Who's this guy?" Mikado wondered.

"Boss!" one of the smugglers cried. "Let us take care of this!"

"What, and let you mess it up again?" Roqua asked as he pushed his way to the front of the gang. "I've already seen what you're capable of, and it ain't much." He glowered at Kohaku. "I'd tell you to hand over the diamond, but I guess that ain't going to happen, huh?"

"Hmph," Mikado grunted and grinned. "So you must be Roqua the Rock. Well I'll be. Guess the intel on the job was pretty dang good. Found you a lot faster than I thought I would."

Roqua simply blew the young man off. "Feh. So what are you, a wizard from some two-bit guild?" he asked. "Scram, kid, I'm busy here." He pointed a rugged finger at Kohaku. "Your friend here ate a diamond that I came here to collect."

"Ate it!?" Mikado shouted giving Kohaku one heck of a surprised look.

"You heard me: ate it. So I guess I'm gonna have to get it out of her, one way or another…"

"Um…" Kohaku stuttered, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I think it kinda came out already…" Mikado just stared at her, unable to find the words to describe any of this.

"Hmph, I kinda figured that much," Roqua grunted. "In that case, I'll just have to make do with crushing the life outta ya." He raised his right hand, causing a boulder to tear out of the ground.

"Oh yeah!" one of the smugglers murmured in excitement. "There it is. The boss's Boulder Magic."

"Boulder Shot!" Roqua cried as the rock flung itself at the trio. All three of them managed to leap out of the way easily.

"So he's a wizard too, huh?" Mikado grunted. "Guess that's where he got the name from."

"I'm really sorry," Kohaku apologized to Roqua. "I just caught a whiff of that diamond outside, and it smelled so good… And I was _really_ hungry…" She started to drool a bit. "I mean, I'm really sorry about all this. Papa taught me that stealing is wrong, so if there's anything that I can do…"

_Is this girl for real?_ Mikado wondered. _Is she _actually_ apologizing to this creep?_

"There is one thing you can do," Roqua said, raising dozens of smaller rocks into the air. "Die! Machine-gun Rocks!" The stones instantly flung themselves at the girl, like shots from a cannon.

_This is not good,_ Mikado thought. "Get out of there!" he cried as he began to form a green light in his left hand. But as he did, Buddy fluttered in front of him, the back of his paw extended in front of Mikado's face. The cat turned its head, shook it, and smiled.

"Watch," he told Mikado.

"I'm sorry," Kohaku said calmly, her feet rooted firmly in that spot. "But that's the one thing I can't do." She took a deep breath and puffed up her cheeks. "Suishoryū no…" she murmured, "Hōkō!" With that cry a tornado, filled with sharpened crystal shards, exploded from her mouth, wiping out Roqua's attack. The smugglers, Roqua included, were shocked by this sudden turn of events.

"What the…?" Mikado pondered out loud. "What is she…?"

"Get her!" Roqua screamed. "Kill her!" Despite what they had seen, the thugs charged at Kohaku, requiping all sorts of weapons.

"A dragon's claws are as hard as diamonds…" Buddy explained, watching Kohaku with a knowing smile. The girl dove forward, landing on her hands amidst the smugglers.

"Suishoryū Kama!" she shouted, as her right leg instantly sprouted a massive, crystalline scythe. She quickly spun on her hands, swinging the scythe and flooring all the thugs. Roqua could only stare, slack-jawed in amazement and terror as the scythe vanished and Kohaku leapt to her feet to face the ringleader.

"And a dragon's fangs are even harder…" Buddy continued.

Roqua scowled at Kohaku. "Rock Wall!" he cried, raising both arms into the air. A wall of stalagmites instantly formed between the combating mages. "Let's see you fight me through this you brat!"

Kohaku planted her feet in the ground and pulled back her right fist. "Suishoryū Kon!" she shouted, punching as a pillar of crystal shot from her arm.

"She is Kohaku Diamont…"

The pillar eradicated the rocks, leaving Roqua only a split-second before it decked him, sending him sprawling, knocked out cold.

"The Crystal Dragon Slayer," Buddy finished.

_A dragon slayer,_ Mikado thought as he stared at Kohaku. The girl turned to her two friends, smiled brightly, and skipped on over. _Just like Salamander or the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. This girl is amazing._

"Well, that should do it!" Kohaku said cheerily. "We caught the bad guys for you!" She turned to look at the smugglers' fallen leader. "I guess that guy was pretty round already, so that job's complete. But what about the other guys? How are we supposed to round them up? Maybe if we rolled them into some sort of ball…"

"Uh, that's not what that phrase means…" Mikado interrupted her. He shook his head and smiled. "Well, you took these guys out, just like you said. And with the blast from that roar of yours, it shouldn't be long before some council wizards show up. By the way, how did you learn that magic anyway?"

"My Papa taught it to me," Kohaku replied.

"Your Papa?"

"Yep. Quartzite the Crystal Dragon."

_So that would make her an old-generation dragon slayer, huh?_ Mikado thought. _To believe that there are people out there who were actually raised by dragons. It's almost unthinkable._ He scratched his head. "Well, I'm sorry, but I have no idea where to even _begin_ looking for a dragon…"

"Oh…" Kohaku said, looking just a smidge disappointed. "That's alright." She smiled a wide grin, revealing pointed incisors alongside her normal-looking teeth. "Buddy and I will just keep looking." She turned to skip away, Buddy following behind her.

"Wait!" Mikado called out. Kohaku stopped and turned to him, a curious look on her face. "Are you part of a guild by any chance?" The girl shook her head. Mikado held up his right hand and showed her his tattoo. "Then how would you like to join one," he asked. "This is the mark of my guild, Fox Tail. We could really use someone like you, and maybe we could give you a place to call home while you look for your dad. What do you say?"

Kohaku turned to Buddy, and he turned to her. They smiled, nodded, and turned to Mikado. "We'd love to!" Kohaku giggled.

"Great," Mikado said with a grin. He wondered for a moment. _It's so strange. I don't even know this girl that well. Why do I feel like I have to go this far to help her, to take her under the guild's wings?_ An image flashed through his mind: A little girl with silver-white hair, clad in a white dress and bare feet, a red ribbon in her hand. _Right,_ he thought, nodding to himself. _Because that's what you did for me, Kaguya-san._

"Wow," Buddy sighed. "There sure were a lot of these guys. Who were they, anyway?" he wondered.

"Them?" Mikado asked. "I think they were called the Roqua Gang; a bunch of jewel thieves and smugglers. They're even suspected to have been involved in the theft of a very valuable ruby from the Freesia Museum."

Kohaku turned to Buddy, who again returned her gaze. "Was that a big red jewel in a glass box in a fancy building?" she asked hesitantly.

_Why do I not like the sound of this?_ Mikado thought. "Sounds right… Why…?" Kohaku sheepishly rubbed the back of her head again.

"Oh… Wellll… actually that was me…" Kohaku admitted. Mikado stared again, eyes wide in shock. "I didn't know I was stealing, honest," she pleaded. "It was right out in the open, and no one was using it, right? And there were all these security lacrima and stuff, so Buddy thought it was some kind of obstacle course and the ruby was the prize…"

_Crap,_ Mikado thought. _Now I _really_ need to get her to the guild._ "Um, we better get going to Fox Tail now," he said, turning to run. Kohaku gave him a warm, grateful smile, as if she had just been given the best present in the world.

"Okay!" she said skipping after him, Buddy in tow.

"And hurry! Before the council wizards get here!"


	2. Chapter 2: The Fox's Tail

Chapter 2: The Fox's Tail

"Oh man," Mikado said, worried. "Is she going to be alright?" The three mages were taking a horse-drawn cart through the countryside to Acaciawood, the town that officially housed the Fox Tail guild, and Kohaku was laid-out flat, moaning in nausea and discomfort.

"Yeah," Buddy reassured him. "Kohaku's tough. She may be down, but she'd never let these evil vehicles defeat her!" Mikado took a second look at the girl, at the moment the most haggard mess he had ever seen.

"This is undefeated?" he asked. "No wait, that isn't the thing I should be asking about – what do you mean evil?"

Kohaku groaned, catching the boys' attention as she tried to pull herself up to a sitting position with her shaky arms. "It's like Buddy said," she explained, putting on a brave face as she fought against the sloshing in her stomach. "Every time I get on a moving vehicle, my tummy gets really, _really,_ icky…" Any façade of strength she had put on dissolved as she suddenly fought back the urge to vomit, yet she swallowed hard and continued. "And as soon as I get off, the icky feeling goes away. But every time I get on another moving vehicle – a carriage, boat, whatever – it comes right back. It can't be… urp… a coincidence. Therefore, the moving vehicles are all conspiring against me…" A fresh wave of nausea cut her off and she collapsed again.

"That's ridiculous," Mikado pointed out.

"Well, that's what… urp… Buddy told me…"

Mikado sighed and leaned back. "You sure put a lot of trust in that cat, don't you?" he asked.

"I have to…" Kohaku replied, rubbing her stomach. "Buddy's… the only one I've had… to help me… for twelve years…"

"Twelve years?" Mikado asked. He leaned in closer, both because Kohaku's voice was getting faint and because he really wanted to hear this.

"Yeah…" Kohaku began to reminisce. "In my oldest memories… it was just me and Papa… Papa taught me everything…. He taught me how to… survive in our caves, where water was, how to find tasty gems and food, how to read and write, even a little bit about the outside… We… always stayed in the cave… Then one day, when I was five years old, Papa disappeared… I looked everywhere for him… I thought we were playing hide-and-seek at first… Then one day I understood… Papa wasn't coming back… I was all alone for two years…" She suddenly found herself fighting back not just the urge to vomit, but the urge to cry as well.

"But then, as I was wandering around the cave… I found this egg… I don't know where it came from… There was a crack in the ceiling, so maybe… But then the egg hatched, and out came this… little kitten… He was my new buddy, so I named him Buddy… We've been together ever since… I taught Buddy everything Papa taught me… He'd never eat his crystals though… Then one day Buddy thought we should go outside and look for Papa… and that's what we did… Buddy's really smart though, so whenever I don't know what to do or don't understand something, I can always count on him…"

"I see," Mikado said. _So this cat's been carrying that burden for twelve years now… I guess that explains it_. He looked up to survey their environment. The open fields had been replaced by the thick foliage of the Acacia Forest some time ago, and he was recognizing a lot of landmarks now. "Well, you won't have to worry about those kinds of things much longer. We're almost there now."

No sooner had he said that then the cart came to a halt and Kohaku's stomach settled down. She struggled to her feet and looked up in wonder. Before them was a giant tree, taller than any building Kohaku had ever seen. It easily outstripped the other trees in terms of height, leaving them looking like mere bushes in comparison. On closer inspection, Kohaku noticed that several knots had been hollowed out and replaced with windows, and a large door had been cut into the trunk. Above this was a massive sign bearing both the guild mark and the name "Fox Tail." Within the massive branches Kohaku could make out several tree houses, connected by a network of rope bridges, and hidden in the shadow of the tree was a small stone shack. The girl could only stare in wonder as Mikado helped her down from the cart.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" Mikado asked. "I know the guild is officially listed as part of Acaciawood, but the Mistress is a real nature lover. She believes that it's from the natural world that we derive magic, so she wanted to have the guild itself be one with the earth. Or that's what I've heard, anyway."

"Woooow!" Kohaku breathed. "It's so pretty."

"And it's got tree houses!" Buddy cried as he spread his wings. "This is gonna be a blast!"

"I hear that! C'mon Mikado, let's go inside!" With that, the dragon slayer led the charge into the guild.

"W-wait! Kohaku!" Mikado yelled after her. "Ah, what's the use…?"

Kohaku threw open the doors in excitement and delight, a smile on her face like a kid in a candy shop. She drank in the sight of the guild. The bar, stairs, tables, and the request board had all been carved out of the trunk of the giant tree – likely by magic – and sunlight streamed in through the windows, leaving the room bright and cheery. Vines snaked their way up the railings of the stairs and along parts of the wall. And there were all sorts of people in the guild: young and old, men and women, dark and fair – Kohaku even saw a child running around. The boy, about ten years old by the looks of him, had scruffy red hair and wore a brown aviator's jacket, goggles, a navy-blue shirt, black pants, and hiking boots. He charged around the guild, watched from a safe distance by another little boy of the same age, who had shoulder-length black hair and glasses, and was dressed in a robe and boots. The second boy, in contrast to the first, was sitting quietly reading a book, titled _Magical Theory vol. 2_, glancing up occasionally to observe the first. The red-head stopped suddenly and turned to Kohaku, a curious look on his face.

"Hey aneki!" he shouted. "Who are you?"

Kohaku looked around in confusion. _Who's he talking to?_ she wondered._ And why is he asking their name if he already knows it's "Aneki?"_

"He's talking to you, onee-san," the dark-haired boy quietly pointed out, glancing up from his book.

_Okay, now who's "Onee-san?"_ Kohaku thought._ This is all really confusing…_

"Okay, I can see where this is going," Mikado interrupted. "Give her some space kids, she's kinda new… In a lot of ways…"

"Is she a new member aniki?" the red-head asked loudly. Before Mikado could respond, the boy interrupted again. "Hey, aneki, you wanna see my guild mark!?" he asked, a big, toothy grin on his face.

"Okay that's it! Beat it rugrat!" Mikado growled.

"Uh… who's 'Aneki?'" Kohaku asked. "And who's 'Aniki?'"

Mikado sighed. "You're 'aneki' and I'm 'aniki.'"

"But I'm Kohaku, and you're Mikado."

"Those must be codenames," Buddy explained. "After all, Mikado's a spy, remember."  
"Oh yeah!" Kohaku gasped. "I totally forgot!"

"Makes sense, right?"

"Geez, is every conversation with you going to be like this?" Mikado sighed in exasperation, pushing Kohaku along. "Anyway, let's get you out of here before Cass decides to show you his guild mark anyway."

"Why?" Kohaku asked. "What's wrong with his guild mark? Why can't I see it?" As if to answer her question, the red-headed child, Cass, quickly did an about-face and dropped his drawers, wearing that same grin the whole time. Kohaku just stared in shock.

"And that's why."

"Whoa, hey there!" another voice called to them. Kohaku averted her gaze from the mark-in-the-moon and looked up to see another wizard, the same age as Mikado. This young man had dark skin, short black hair, and a pair of round shades hiding his eyes. He was dressed in a short-sleeve shirt, slacks, and sandals and bore a friendly, confident smile. "Is Cass giving you a hard time?" the young man asked. He turned to the boy with the book. "Hey Paul!" The boy looked up. "Do me a favor and control your bother will you?" He turned to Kohaku and smiled at her. "'Bother,' get it? Because their twins, and he's a pain in the ass." He smiled again. "Hey! Or is he a pain in the Cass? Because…"

"We get it," Mikado interrupted. "And nobody's laughing because your jokes aren't funny, Rashid." Kohaku burst into gales of loud laughter. Mikado and Rashid both stared at her.

"'Control your bother!'" she laughed hysterically. "'Pain in the Cass!' That's hilarious!"

"Wow," Rashid murmured. "I like this girl already. You mind if I spend some time with your girlfriend here, Miki-kun?" he asked with a sly smile.

"By all means, take her, please," Mikado groaned. "And she's not my girlfriend, she's a new recruit." Rashid's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Oh, really?" he asked. He put one arm around Kohaku's shoulder. "Well, then, I guess I gotta do my job and take you on the official tour of the guild, huh little lady?"  
"Yeah, you go do that," Mikado grumbled as he turned to leave. "I've gotta go talk to the Mistress anyhow." And with that, the two groups were off, Mikado going one way, and Kohaku, Rashid, and Buddy going the other (though Mikado needed to point Buddy in the right direction first).

"So is 'Little Lady' my new codename now, or is it still 'Aneki?'" Kohaku asked, puzzled.

Rashid chuckled. "Aw, man, you're going to be a fun one, aren't ya?" He then proceeded to lead Kohaku around the guild. "By the way, my name's Rashid."

"I'm Kohaku!" the girl replied, cheerily.

"And I'm Buddy!" the cat joined in.

"Kohaku and Buddy, huh?" Rashid asked, then grinned. "Those are some fun names you've got there! Anyway, this here is our bar. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. By the way, a guy once walked into the bar and said 'ow.'"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kohaku replied in earnest.

"Well… Got me there I guess. Moving on." He stopped again a moment later. "This is the request board. We've got all sorts of jobs for you to take. But since you're a rookie, you can't take any S-Class jobs yet. Heck, _I_ can't take any S-Class jobs yet, and I've been here a couple years. Anyway, these stairs over here will lead you outside the guild to the dorms. You saw the dorms outside, right?"

"Dorms?" Kohaku asked, thinking it over. "Oh! You mean the tree houses!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Those look like so much fun! Do I get to play in them?"

"Well, they're not actually for playing," Rashid explained, "but yeah, you kinda do. By the way, have you considered where you're going to be staying from now on? We have rooms in the dorms if you need 'em."

"I hadn't really thought of that. Buddy and I usually sleep wherever we find a comfy spot."

"We're hobos!" Buddy proudly proclaimed.

"Is that so?" Rashid asked. "Well, we can't have a guildmate homeless now can we? I'll talk to the Mistress later about getting you a place to stay. Did you bring your luggage?"

"Um… Well now that you mention it, Buddy and I don't really have anything with us, just the clothes on my back."

"You mean your_ backs_, right? Your friend's too?"

"Buddy's naked," Kohaku said, pointing at the cat.

"Oh, yeah," Rashid murmured. "Hadn't thought of that. I guess that cat's got _my_ tongue now though." He laughed at his own joke.

"Kohaku," Buddy whispered, floating eye-level to the girl. "This guy's weird. I don't have anything _like_ his tongue with me."

"That is strange," Kohaku agreed.

"Ah," Rashid interrupted. "And here's the final and most important stop on the tour." He paused in front of one of the tables. Kohaku looked down at it and gasped in awe. There was a young lady, just a little older than Kohaku by the looks of her, laying fast asleep on the table amongst trays of food. She had silky, raven-black hair that flowed down past her shoulders, and a pair of glasses rested on her dainty nose. She was clad in an elegant black dress, but her feet were left bare, and a discarded pair of heels lay on the ground. From her sleeping face to her delicate toes, she was the prettiest girl Kohaku had ever seen.

"Oh wow," Kohaku breathed. "She looks just like a princess from a fairy tale."

"Pretty," Buddy murmured in agreement.

"Yeah, well it's time for Sleeping Beauty to wake up now," Rashid said. He gently shook the girl's foot. "Hey, Eva-chan, wake up. We need you for a second." The girl's eyes gently fluttered open. She sat up and turned to the trio, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Huh?" she muttered. Her voice was very gentle, and still a little tired. "What happened? I was waiting tables and then… Must have dozed off…" She picked herself up off the table and slipped her shoes back on. Realization briefly flashed in her eyes when she noticed Kohaku, though they still remained dull and sleepy. "Oh hello there," she said with a smile. "You must be new here. My names Evangeline, but you can call me Eva if you want. It's nice to meet you." She held her hand out to Kohaku, which the dragon slayer accepted.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said. "My name's Kohaku, and he's Buddy."

"Wow, that's a pretty name," Eva said dreamily.

Kohaku gave the girl a puzzled look. "You think Buddy's a pretty name?" she asked. "That's kinda weird…"

_Should she really be saying that?_ Rashid wondered. He hadn't even spent five minutes with her, but he could tell she was… different. Not to mention the looks she seemed to get from Mikado. "Anyway," he cut in, "Eva-chan's something of the guild's poster girl." He put his arm around Eva's shoulders and gave Kohaku a thumbs-up. "But don't let her looks fool you. She's one of the toughest wizards we've got."

"Oh, I'm not all that," Eva denied, blushing the slightest bit.

"She could beat the tar out of me and yet she says she's not all that," Rashid deadpanned, shrugging his shoulders. "That's a little disheartening for me. Guess I'll never become an S-Class Mage then."

"Now, now…"

"Anyway, Eva-chan," Rashid said, motioning towards the newcomers. "These two are going to be joining our guild."

"Oh are you now?" Eva asked.

"Yup," Kohaku chirped.

"Do they have their guild marks yet?" Eva asked, turning to Rashid.

"Well, that's what we came to you for," he pointed out, turning to Kohaku. "So it's like this. Every official member of a wizard guild has to have the guild's mark stamped somewhere on their body, so people know you're really who you say you are. Mine's located on my chest, for example…"

"And mine's on my ankle," Eva finished. She held her right foot in her hand, turning her ankle to Kohaku and revealing a miniature version of the mark Mikado bore. "Cool, right?" she asked. "Having this mark means you're one of us."

"It's a symbol that you've been marked…" Rashid said. He paused as if for emphasis and pushed his shades up his nose. "For death."

"What!?" both newcomers shrieked. There was a punctuated silence as Kohaku stared at Rashid in horror and Eva just plain stared. After a moment the young man coughed, chuckled sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry," he said. "That was the best joke I could come up with at the moment. Kinda poor, huh?" He pulled a notepad and pencil from his pocket and began to scribble a note to himself. "Okay Rashid, note to self: 'mark' jokes. Learn some." He leaned back, crossed his arms, and touched the eraser to his cheek, deep in thought.

"Um…" Eva murmured. "I'm sorry about that. Rashid's like that sometimes."

"What a weirdo," Buddy whispered to Kohaku. The girl nodded.

"But don't let him get to you," Eva reassured her. "There's nothing dangerous about a guild mark. In fact, it's kinda required. Hang on a sec." She rummaged through the plates on the table, searching for something. Whoever made that order was clearly going to have to do without. "Let me see…" she mumbled to herself. "Where did I put it… Sleepy… Oh, here it is!" She pulled out a stamp and inkpad from behind a flask. "Here we go: the official Fox Tail Guild Stamp! So then, where would you like your mark? You're going to need one if you want to join us."

Kohaku took a moment to think about it, then smiled and gave what she hoped was a cool look of determination. "I've got it!" she declared, snapping her fingers. She rolled up her right shirt sleeve. "Can you put it right here, on my shoulder?"

"Sure thing," Eva said with a warm smile. She gently pressed the stamp to Kohaku's arm, and with a small blink of light the mark materialized. Kohaku giggled in excitement. "Wow, this is so cool!" she squealed.

"Ooh!" Buddy cried. "Me too! Me too! Right on my back!" Eva obliged. "It tickles!" the flying cat exclaimed. He turned to get a good look at it. His smile faded as he spun in the air, trying to catch a glimpse of his own back. "I can't see it!" he whined. He landed, retracted his wings, and continued his mad spinning, like a dog after its tail. "Is it even there? Kohaku, can you see it?"

"Yup, I can see it alright."

"Are you sure? It could be a trick!"

"Oh! I never thought of that!"

Eva shook her head and sighed. She placed her hands on the new girl's shoulders. "Kohaku, Buddy, welcome to the family," she said, closing her eyes as she smiled. Kohaku returned the grin, and that was it. Yet both girls remained frozen in that position.

After a while, Kohaku's curiosity got the better of her. "Um… Eva?" she asked. Eva snored in response. "Huh!?" the dragon slayer cried.

"Sorry about that," Rashid said, finally rejoining events. "That's just how Eva-chan is. Her magic eats up a lot of her energy, even when she's not using it, so she tends to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Any conversation after that is arrested while she takes a rest." He smirked at his own joke as Kohaku broke into laughter. "Maybe I should write that one down… Nah!" Rashid slipped the notepad back into his pocket, turned, and gathered Eva into his arms. "Anyway, I'd better find a bench or someplace to lay the princess for a while. It's been nice talking to you, Kohaku!" And with that, he left.

"Wow," Buddy murmured. "That must be one heck of a stamp if it takes her out like that…"

"No kidding," Kohaku agreed.

"My, my," someone behind them said with a soft, polite laugh. "Mikado was right. You are an interesting one." Instantly everyone went quiet. Every head – including Kohaku and Buddy's – turned to face the woman who had just entered the scene, Mikado walking behind her. She was beautiful, no doubt about it, but not in the same way as Eva. While Eva looked like a princess, there was something… otherworldly about this woman. She was older than Eva, looking to be somewhere in her mid-to-late-thirties – though Kohaku thought something smelled off about her – and was dressed in a flowing white kimono, accented by a red sash. On her feet she wore traditional Japanese socks and sandals. She had long white hair, some of which was tied into a looped braid that resembled the petals of a flower or the leaves of a four-leafed clover. Kohaku was stunned by her beauty.

"It is nice to meet you," the woman said in a gentle voice. "So you are my new daughter, are you?"

"Daughter!?" Kohaku cried. "Are you really my Mama!? How come I never saw you before!? How come Papa never mentioned you!? What's going on here!?"

The woman smiled and laughed again. "Oh my," she said. "It appears Mikado wasn't exaggerating about you in the slightest. I'm sorry to confuse you, my dear. I only mean to say that, to me, all members of this guild are my sons and daughters. I am Tamamo Nomae, Mistress of Fox Tail."

"Oooh," Kohaku breathed.

"So she's the boss here then," Buddy said. "The big fish, the big cheese, the cream of the crop." He tilted his head for a moment. "Hm. So what's with all the food names then? She's pretty odd too, Kohaku."

Absolutely _no one_ knew how to respond to that.

"You must be Buddy, then," Mistress Tamamo said. "Mikado told me all about you too."

"I knew he was a spy," Buddy muttered.

"Mikado tells me you are a dragon slayer, Kohaku," the Mistress continued. Everyone's eyes lit up at this statement (except for Eva's, of course). "Is this true?"

Kohaku nodded. "Yup!" she said. "I'm the Crystal Dragon Slayer, Kohaku Diamont, and this is Buddy, my buddy." She indicated the cat beside her, who took to the air as if to punctuate her statement. "He can fly."

"I see," the Mistress said. "Then allow me to welcome you to Fox Tail, to your new family." Everyone cheered for their two new friends.

"What's going on in here?" another voice boomed from the entrance. "Are we having a party!? Count me in! Flame Make: Festival Dragon!" With a loud _Fwoom_ a massive, Chinese-style dragon, made entirely out of fire, burst into the room, dancing and weaving through the air while everyone except the mistress and the two newcomers ducked and dove under the tables for cover.

"Yeagh!" one mage shouted. "What the hell, Shishio!? Are you trying to kill us all!? The guild's in a giant tree! You can't use fire magic here!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Guess I should be more careful." The voice belonged to a man who seemed to be in his late-twenties or early-thirties. He had brown-black hair, most of which was covered by a bandana. His face boasted a strong-looking chin and a newly-grown beard. The man was dressed in a blue jinbei, his hairy legs, forearms, and part of his chest exposed. On his feet he wore simple wooden sandals.

"Careful my butt," Mikado said. "Didn't the Mistress already tell you 'No fire in the guild' Shishio? Hell, she even had that studio built next to the guild so you could make your fireworks in peace."

"Yeah, sorry about that," the man, Shishio, said sheepishly but still in that booming voice. He clenched his fists and started trembling. "But when the moment comes, I just can't contain myself. I just have to unleash…" He spread his arms wide as a fiery phoenix burst into being. "ART!" he shouted to the heavens.

"ARRGH!" everyone else shouted as they took cover again. The Mistress, however, simply shook her head and raised one hand in the air, unleashing a burst of wind that extinguished the flame-beasts.

"That's enough Shishio," she said. "Come meet your new guildmates. These are Kohaku and Buddy, a dragon slayer and a flying cat, respectively."

Shishio's eyes widened as he rushed to the two of them. He seized Kohaku's small, slender hands in his large, rough ones. "Really? For real!?" he cried. "You're a dragon slayer!?"

"Yup," Kohaku said, nodding. "I'm the Crystal Dragon Slayer."

"Crystals!?" Shishio exclaimed. "That sounds utterly beautiful! Imagine the great works of art you could produce with such magic! You simply must show me!" The Mistress cleared her throat. "I mean… Later, I guess," Shishio stammered, releasing Kohaku's hands. He looked around at his silent guildmates. "Well, what are you all sitting there for? We have some fantastic new members here. LET'S CELEBRATE!" he boomed. Everyone else joined in a chorus of cheers.

"Well then," Mikado sighed as he rejoined Kohaku. "I guess you got to meet all the other nuts in the guild. So what do you think?"

Kohaku gave him her biggest, widest grin yet. "I think it's going to be great!" she said, laughter in her voice.

"Kohaku," the Mistress interrupted. "Mikado also tells me you've had some problems with the law?" Kohaku blushed and twiddled her fingers.

"Yeah, well…" she stammered. "I kinda… You know… Accidentally… Stole some jewels… And ate them…" The Mistress sighed and put a hand to her head, but her smile did not drop away.

"My, my, my," she said. "Well, I suppose I will have to take care of that then. Don't worry too much about it. Makarov had a lot of trouble to deal with too when he ran Fairy Tail, but he always managed to keep his fledglings out of harm's way. I suppose a little damage from one small fox kit won't be too hard to handle."

"O-oh," Kohaku stuttered. "Th-Thank-you ma'am. Thank-you very much!" She bowed deeply to her creditor and new mistress.

"The pleasure is mine." The Mistress turned to leave. "In the meantime, please take good care of her, Mikado." The young man blushed and made an exasperated face, but said nothing as Mistress Tamamo walked away.

Kohaku simply smiled as she looked over her new guild. _Can you see me, Papa?_ she thought. _I have a family again._

"Hey there lovebirds!" Rashid called out as he strode over to Kohaku's group, a piece of paper in his hand. "How's it going?"

"Ugh," Mikado groaned. "Is it really so hard to get some alone-time here?"

"Sorry," Rashid said, "but I couldn't help but overhear you're talk with the Mistress and Shishio, Kohaku."

"People in the next town over couldn't help overhearing that blowhard," Mikado pointed out.

"I hear you're a Crystal Dragon Slayer," Rashid said, ignoring Mikado (much to the latter's annoyance). "Does that mean you're good with crystals and caves and stuff?" he asked.

Kohaku nodded. "The best."

"Great. Well, I know you just got here and all, but I'd like to help you get into the swing of things ASAP." He held up the paper for all to see.

"How'd you like your first job?"


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Earth

Chapter 3: Into the Earth

"Wow," Rashid exclaimed, staring at the prone Kohaku. "You really weren't kidding about her, huh Miki-kun?"

"Trust me, I wish I was," Mikado replied. They were taking a cart to Mossdeep – a small mining town – to meet their client. The request offered 300,000 Jewels for one day's help in the mines. Mikado wondered if they could still call it good pay after splitting it amongst the three of them (four counting the cat). "How did I get mixed up in this anyway? Wasn't this supposed to be _her_ job?" he asked, motioning towards the highly nauseated girl.

"Don't ask me, man," Rashid said with that care-free tone that just_ bugged_ Mikado. "You're the one that volunteered to help us."

Mikado grimaced. It _was_ true. He thought back to last night.

_"So what do you say?" Rashid asked. "Sounds like a good idea to me."_

_ Kohaku nodded. "Me too! This is going to be so much fun! You're coming with me, right?"_

_ "Of course I am! We foxes have to stick together, don't we?"_

_ "Well, if you're going then so am I!" Mikado cut in._

_ "Hooray!" Kohaku cried. "It's a party!"_

_ "Now that's what I'm talking about!" Shishio hollered, leaping right into their conversation. "Let's party!"_

Mikado couldn't recall much after that. He remembered stumbling down from the dorms the next morning, but that was it. He had found Kohaku sleeping in the middle of the guild. He wasn't sure if she slept there on purpose or if she had just passed-out, but either way she never made it to the dorms that night. Why did he volunteer himself anyway?

"Is she really going to be alright?" Rashid asked, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Mikado told him. "As soon as we stop she'll be right as rain." As if on cue, the cart came to a halt.

"Oh!" Kohaku exclaimed as she sprang to her feet. "We're here!" With that, she leapt out of the cart, Buddy in tow.

"See, what'd I tell you?" Mikado said.

"Huh?" Rashid mumbled. "Well, what do you know?"

The two guys walked over to Kohaku, who had stopped in the middle of the village. "This is a mining town?" Mikado asked as he surveyed the site. "Not much if you ask me." And it wasn't. Mossdeep consisted of little more than a bunch of run-down shacks in the middle of the forest. And the shacks themselves looked like they consisted of little more than piles of planks with a few haphazard nails thrown in for good measure.

"Whoa," Buddy gasped. "Look at these tiny houses Kohaku!" With that he lit on one of the sheds. "This one looks like the one we tried to build way back when we first left the cave." Without warning, the whole structure shifted under his paws and collapsed into a pile of sticks. "WHOA!" he cried as he tumbled.

"Buddy!" Kohaku yelped.

"Watch what you're doing you idiot!" Mikado shouted.

"Wow," Buddy groaned. "Now it's _really_ just like the one we built.

"Idiot," Mikado scolded him. "What if someone was in there?!"

"Oh, trust me," an old voice creaked. "No one's been in any of these for ages." The four wizards turned towards what appeared to be a mass of white roots with a mushroom growing in the middle of it.

"Did that thing just talk?" Mikado asked.

"Of course I did," it replied, giving the wizards a start. "My name's Hypha, and I'm the sole resident of this here town." On closer inspection, Mikado could see that the pile of roots was really just a tiny old man with _way_ too long of hair, and that what they had mistaken for a mushroom was actually the poor man's nose. A hand emerged from the hair, carrying a walking stick. "You must be the wizard's I sent for."

"Yep, that's us!" Rashid replied with a confident grin and a thumbs up. "And I take it you're the one who needs some mining done, right?"

"That's right," the man said. "My name's Hypha."

"You said that already," Mikado pointed out.

"A gnome!" Kohaku and Buddy cried in unison. "I can't believe it Buddy!" Kohaku continued, hands clasped together as she stared in wonder. "It's a gnome, just like in Papa's stories!"

"I know, right?!" Buddy exclaimed, a big smile on his face.

"I am not a gnome," the old man huffed. "I'm a human being!"

"Oh, really?" Kohaku asked. "I'm sorry." She hung her head in disappointment. "I really thought he was a gnome," she muttered.

"I don't know, Kohaku," Buddy said warily. "He could be lying."

"Really?"

"Makes sense, right?" Buddy asked. Mikado sighed in exasperation as Rashid chuckled.

"But Buddy," Rashid said. "That just can't be the case. Gnomes can't lie. Didn't you _gnome_ that?"

"Really?" both Kohaku and her cat replied.

"Makes sense, right?" Rashid asked, laughing at his own joke. He was the only one to laugh this time, as Kohaku was too busy trying to decide whether or not the old man was a gnome to catch the "humor."

"Oh, _please_ don't encourage them," Mikado grumbled. He shook his head and turned to the "gnome." "Sorry about these… Wait where'd he go?" The old man had vanished.

"Over here!" Hypha cried from one of the shacks. "Are we going to discuss business or not?"

"When did he…?!" Mikado started to say before stopping himself. He face-palmed. "Aw man," he complained. "This is going to be one of _those_ days, isn't it?"

"Come on, Mikado!" Kohaku called from the hut. "The gno… the client is waiting for us!"

"Yeah, come on slowpoke!" Rashid teased.

"I swear I'm going to kill them all one of these days…"

They all gathered in the shack, which was in only slightly better condition than the others. It seemed more stable, but the wooden walls were damp and rotting, with plenty of holes to let the weather in. The old, crude, wooden furniture looked like it had seen better, drier days. Mikado thought he even saw mold forming on one chair (though from what he had seen earlier he was almost afraid it was another tiny man). It was a small place, with only a little table, some chairs, an old wood-burning stove, a bed, and barely enough room for the five of them.

"It isn't much," Hypha said, "but please, make yourselves at home."

Kohaku and Buddy looked at each other. "If you insist," Kohaku said, plopping down on the bed to take a nap.

"I wonder what kind of food he has here…" Buddy thought aloud as he searched the cabin.

"NOT _THAT_ AT HOME!" Hypha shouted.

"You'll have to excuse them," Rashid apologized.

"And try to be more careful how you say things," Mikado added. "By the way, it's been bugging me since we got here, but what kind of mining town is this anyway? All the buildings are falling apart, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone but you since we got here."

"Maybe he took all their hair," Buddy suggested. "I mean, look at him."

"Shut up, cat!" Mikado yelled at him.

What part of Hypha's face they could see drooped. "So you noticed, did you?" he asked.

"Wait, I was right?!" Buddy gasped.

"NO, NOT YOU!" the old man shouted. He sighed. "Let me start again. Mossdeep _used_ to be a mining town over forty years ago. Indeed, I was one of the men who founded it. We were able to mine lacrima crystals out of the nearby caves for a while, and the town prospered." His face fell as he continued (or at least it seemed to). "But the lacrima supply just ran dry one day. Some of the others wanted to pack up and move – to take the town's wealth with us and start over in a new location. But I insisted otherwise. See, when I was young, my father told me stories about these here caves. He said that a vast, super-charged lacrima deposit, too rich in crystals and magic for any man to comprehend – the Mother Lode – was hidden here. Deep in my gut, I always knew that he was right. Or at least, I thought he was. Perhaps I was too stubborn on that point. Folks soon started to leave, taking everything with them. 'The Mother Lode's a fool's dream,' they insisted. 'A mere fairy tale.' But I was determined to prove them wrong.

"I should have listened. I searched and searched that empty cave for years, driving myself – and what few good men stayed with me – into the ground. Pretty soon even the loyal ones started to leave, no longer able to support themselves off worthless rocks." The old man started to sob. "All for my dream! I destroyed my own town, and what did I have to show for it? Nothing! The last man who left took his family with him, and their parting words still echo in my head. 'Liar!' they said. I promised them the world and they got nothing." The old man shook his head and wandered to a window, staring out of it at the wide-open mouth of a nearby cave.

"But deep in my heart I know that the Mother Lode exists. My father's words were not lies, I know it." He sighed again. "But alas, I'm getting on in years. I can't work the mines like I used to, and even if I could, there's no reason to believe I'll find the Mother Lode before I die. That's why I need your help. This is the last hoorah. Maybe the power of a wizard guild can give me that last boost I need to find the Mother Lode." He turned to their group. "That's why I called you people. I beg you, please help me with my last dig. Help me set things right. That's all I ask of you."

By this point Kohaku and Buddy were in tears. "We'll do it! No problem!" Kohaku sobbed.

"Aye!" Buddy agreed.

Mikado sighed. "Hey old man," he asked. "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but what about the reward? I really don't think the last remnant of a desolated mining town has 300,000 J on him, right?"

"That is correct," the old man admitted. " But if you can find the Mother Lode, then you can easily get enough lacrima crystals to garner a generous wage."

"We don't care!" Buddy cried.

"We'll do it for you, Grandpa Gnome!" Kohaku sobbed as both the girl and her cat hugged the old man tight.

"I'M NOT A GNOME!" Hypha shouted.

"Is this really going to be okay?" Mikado asked Rashid.

"Don't worry about it," Rashid told him. "It's not like we're going to end up on the streets from losing one day's wages. And besides, there's no talking Ko-chan out of it now."

"I really should have stayed in bed today…" Mikado muttered.

Shortly thereafter the four foxes and the old man stood outside the mouth of the cave. Hypha had given them all pickaxes and helmets with special lacrima crystals tied to them.

"The lacrima on these helmets contain light magic," Hypha explained. "With these, you'll be able to find your way around in the dark depths of this cave." Kohaku drooled a bit as she looked hers over.

_No points for guessing what she's thinking _Mikado thought. _I've gotta wonder about these helmets though. They look pretty old, and the lacrima are kind of cracked. The pickaxes are in pretty bad shape too. I sure hope our magic can get us through this job, because this junk certainly won't._

"Good luck," Hypha told them as he turned to leave. "And be careful in there. Those caves can be pretty dangerous, believe you me."

"Wait, you're not coming?" Mikado asked.

Hypha shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "But I'm too old to do any mining now. You kids are on your own."

"Don't worry about us," Kohaku told him with a cheery smile. "I know caves. And I can take out any monsters we find down there too." With that, the four of them headed in.

"So Kohaku," Mikado started after they made considerable headway into the caves, leaving the light of day behind them. "How exactly do you plan on finding the Mother Lode? We've never even been in this cave before, so we've got no way of knowing where anything is."

"Yes we do…" Kohaku said with a sing-song lilt. "Just watch." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and started sniffing at the air, turning her head this way and that. After a few moments of this, she opened her eyes again. "It's faint," she said. "Really faint, but I'm picking up something really tasty smelling down here. This way!" With that, she took off.

"Wait, that's your plan?!" Mikado yelled incredulously.

"Better hurry up, Mikado!" Buddy cried as he took off.

"You heard the cat, Miki-kun!" Rashid teased as he followed suit.

"Oh come on, this isn't funny!" Mikado shouted. They followed Kohaku this way and that, deeper and deeper into the cave, with Mikado seriously praying that they'd be able to find their way back when all was said and done.

_It's getting pretty dark in here, _he thought. He shivered a little and tugged at his jacket. _It's getting cold too._ Kohaku had slowed to a leisurely walk at this point, so Mikado was free to take in their surroundings. No matter which way he looked, there was nothing but red-brown walls of rock. Bare rock at that – no scaffolding holding the tunnels together. _We must be pretty far in if that's the case._ He thought he heard water dripping somewhere, accompanied by a muffled sound he couldn't quite make out. "Hey, Kohaku," he called to his comrade. "That scent getting any stronger?"

Kohaku furrowed her brow. "Yeah, but there's something mixed in with it," she replied. "Something stinky."

"Now that you mention it, I'm catching a whiff of something pungent too," Rashid said. "Kind of like sour milk or something."

"I didn't do it!" Buddy said. "I bet it was Mikado." He nodded, a smug look on his face.

"Why you little...!" Mikado growled, shaking a fist at the cat.

"No," Kohaku said, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. "That's not it…"

"Then what?" Rashid asked. Before Kohaku could answer, Rashid caught something out of the corner of his eye. Something big. Something _moving_. _What the…? _he thought, then "Crap!" he shouted as he leapt out the way of a massive, clawed foot. The quartet turned their heads and the lights of their helmets revealed a massive lizard. It was bigger than any of the shacks from Mossdeep and three times as long. Its mouth was lined with serrated teeth, and multiple feather-like frills jutted out from its neck. It's huge, bulging eyes bore no pupils, staring without sight at the three wizards.

"Crap!" Mikado muttered, trying to keep his voice down in case the clearly blind animal had hearing to compensate for its lack of vision. "It's a Giant Cave Salamander! That thing's more trouble than a trio of angry bears ever could be."

"Aww man," Rashid moaned. "Salamander… Salamander…" he mumbled, a tension in his voice reminiscent of panic.

"Hey, are you okay?" Mikado asked.

"It's no use," Rashid mumbled. "I just can't think of any good puns for this."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

The creature heard that. It snapped its head in the direction of the wizards and let out a roar that echoed through the cave. Mikado clenched his teeth and fists. Rashid's muscles tensed. Kohaku simply stared at the thing.

"Ohhh!" she breathed in what sounded like both awe and realization. "It's challenging me to a roaring contest!" she cried, slapping her fist against her palm.

"Are you nuts!?" Mikado yelled.

"Very well then," Kohaku said, ignoring Mikado. "Challenge accepted." She took a big breath and let out a deep, bellowing, ear-piercing roar that shook the very walls of the cave. The salamander quickly turned tail and ran.

"I believe that means I win," Kohaku said, puffing out her chest in pride.

"Hooray Kohaku!" Buddy cheered.

"Nothing's louder than a dragon!" Kohaku said.

"What the hell…" was all an astonished, slightly shocked Mikado could eke out.

Little did they know, someone else, deeper in the cave, heard the roar too.

"Did you guys here that?" a voice asked in the darkness.

"Yeah," another replied. "We'd better check that out. Could be trouble."

Meanwhile, back at the surface, Hypha was pacing all around the village. "I hope those kids are okay," he worried aloud. "I was careless. I should have warned them about _them._ Please be safe kids. And be careful."

Back in the cave, the four wizards continued on their quest, following Kohaku's lead. The walls had gone from brown to gray with a faint tinge of blue. _Something's not right here,_ Mikado thought. Then something occurred to him. "Hey guys," he called out. "Shut off your lamps for a second." They did so, but the darkness didn't come. Instead, the cave remained lit by a bluish glow, which seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.

"Wow," Kohaku and Buddy breathed.

"Now what do you suppose this is?" Rashid asked.

"It's proof is what it is," Mikado replied. "I can sense some pretty strong magic coursing through the earth around here. That must be what's giving off this light."

"The kind of magic some heavily-charged lacrima could be putting out, right?" Rashid asked with a grin.

Mikado nodded. "Looks like that old man's father knew what he was talking about after all."

"I can smell it," Kohaku said. "It's close. But so is that stinky smell."

"Hm?" Rashid asked. "You mean that smell wasn't the salamander?"

"No," Kohaku replied. "It's something else. Something… foul." As she said this, the group walked out of the tunnel into a much bigger part of the cave; a room of some sort.

And they weren't alone. There was a crowd of people there, all of them rough and nasty-looking.

"Well what do we have here?" a man with curly black hair and a big, round chin asked. "Looks like a couple of mice wandered in here."

"I'M A CAT!" Buddy shrieked.

"Yeah?" the man asked. "Well we're the Black Slime Guild," he said, rolling back his sleeve to reveal a mark shaped like a screaming, melting skull. "And I say you're trespassing in _our_ cave."

"Black Slime?" Mikado asked.

"Wait a minute," Kohaku asked. "Did the gnome ask you guys to help him find the Mother Lode too?"

"Gnome?" the man asked. "What are you talking about? We ain't here to help no one but ourselves. But if you'd like, we can help get you kids a one-way ticket to hell."

"Huh?" Kohaku asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Ticket? Like to a train? No thanks, I don't do trains. But more importantly, where are you buying tickets like that anyway? And what train runs to…"

"Ko-chan, that's not what their talking about," Rashid interrupted her. "Let me guess; you guys are a dark guild, aren't you?"

"Hey, look at the brain on this genius over here," the man laughed (Kohaku turned to look). "Of course we are. You must be pretty stupid not to know about us."

"Enlighten me," Rashid dared him.

"Why should I waste answers on a dead man? Let's kill 'em boys!" With a loud roar the dark wizards charged at them. Kohaku, the situation finally sinking in, took a step back and pulled back her fist.

But Mikado put up his hand to stop her. She turned to him in surprise. "Not this time Kohaku," Mikado said. "You got to have all the fun last time. Now let me show you what _I_ can do." He held up his left hand. A green light formed in his palm as he charged at the enemies, and a multitude of bright green, glowing leaves began to form from thin air.

"Leaf Spiral!" he shouted as the leaves spun out from around him, blasting the other wizards to the ground.

"What the hell?!" their leader cried. "These are just a bunch of stupid leaves! How the hell…?!"

"Oh they're not just leaves," Mikado explained with a wicked grin. "These are embodiments of the energy of the earth, given shape by my magic. So get this straight: you challenge me, and you make an enemy of everything around you!"

"Dammit!" the dark wizard cursed.

"Wow," Kohaku gasped. "Mikado's so cool!" But she was so busy admiring Mikado that she didn't notice when several of the dark wizards slipped passed him and surrounded her, leaping at the dragon slayer from all angles.

"Get down!" Rashid shouted. Kohaku and Buddy hit the dirt as Rashid flung his arms out wide, releasing a multitude of knives in the air and slicing their enemies. "Hey Mikado!" he called. "Don't be selfish. There's too many of them for just you."

"Heh," Mikado replied. "Whatever."

"So the guy with the shades requips throwing knives does he?!" one of the dark wizards shouted. "So what! We can do this!" With that, several of them circled Rashid and summoned large shields from thin air. "Let's see you throw knives through these!"

"No thank you," Rashid replied. He materialized more knives in his hands and through them out to his sides. It looked like they were headed right for the shields. But just as the dark wizards thought they had Rashid in a corner, he flicked his fingers and the knives arched into the air, plummeted towards their targets, and – with a wave of their master's hand – slashed the enemies from behind. "You see," Rashid explained. "My Knife Magic let's me control the trajectory of my knives, changing it however I see fit."

"Crap!" the leader shouted. "We ain't gonna lose to small-fry like you!"

But he was wrong: in no time Rashid and Mikado made short work of the Black Slime Guild. "Well then," Rashid said. "I guess this _leaves_ us a _cut_ above you guys, huh?" He smiled and looked around. "Anyone? Any takers?"

Kohaku burst into laughter. "Leaves!" she squealed. "Cut! Hahahahaha!"

"Thank-you!"

"Ugh," the enemy leader groaned. "You brats are in for it now. As soon as _those_ guys get here, your heads are gonna roll."

"Those guys?" Mikado asked. "What are you talking about?"

Little did they know that back on the surface, Hypha wasn't doing so well. He lay curled on the ground, clutching his stomach as three men towered over him.

The officers of the Black Slime.


	4. Chapter 4: Creeping Shadows

Chapter 4: Creeping Shadows

"What was that?" one of the dark mages asked as he stepped towards Hypha. The man wore shades with pink-tinted lenses, a Hawaiian shirt that left his hairy chest exposed, a gold medallion around his neck, black pants, and brown shoes. He had curly black hair and a grin that exposed his rather large teeth, and bore the mark of the Black Slime Guild on his chest. "You ain't telling us nothing? I don't think you understand… JUST WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH!" With that the thug spin-kicked the old man right into one of the shacks, shattering the wall. Hypha gasped in pain as his attacker laughed.

"Oh yeah, _real _smart thinking Joss," another of them said in a droll manner. "Keep on beating his brains out, we're sure to get more information out of him when he's dead." This man was dressed in a long-sleeve shirt, slacks and sneakers, and wore a knit-cap on his head and a rucksack over his shoulder. He had a sandy-brown goatee, dark bags under his eyes, and a guild mark on the back of his neck.

"Piss off," Joss snapped back at him.

"Now Atlas," the third man, keeping to the shadows, cautioned, though the tone of his voice suggested he was enjoying the scene unfolding before him. "Don't tell me you're going soft."

"Not at all Lyser-sama," the second man, Atlas, replied. "I simply find Joss's method inefficient. The old man's already been beaten bloody, so we know brute force isn't going to work on him, and we won't get any info on the Mother Lode out of him if he dies."

"You've got that right," Hypha grunted, trying and failing to stand. "Do what you want with me, you monsters. I'm not telling you anything."

"I see," Lyser said, the same sense of dangerous amusement in his voice. "Did you hear that, Atlas? What do you propose we do to loosen his tongue?"

Atlas gave a shallow smile. "If you'll allow me, master," he said. He walked over to Hypha and crouched in front of him. "I know the kind of man you are old-timer." He began rummaging through his bag, pulling out all kinds of junk – a paper clip, a piece of string, a bottle cap, a piece of pipe – and examining each before ultimately replacing them in his rucksack. "People like you are really attached to places like this. You've stored all your memories in the things you built with your companions. It's all you have; it's what keeps you going." Finally, he stopped, and smiled with subtle wickedness as he pulled a match from the rucksack. "So what would you say if we burned the whole thing to the ground?"

For a moment, Atlas's threat seemed to work. Fear crept into the old man's eyes, his breathing became shallow, and he broke into a cold sweat. But he dug deep, found his resolve, and braced himself, his face like steel.

"Do what you want with me and this old ruin," he whispered dangerously. "I will not betray those children."

"Children?" Lyser asked. "Who said anything about children?" A look of horror colored Hypha's face. Lyser knew he hit something there, and couldn't help but laugh, thinking about the kind of misery he had in mind for the old man.

Meanwhile, unaware of the turmoil occurring on the surface, the three wizards (plus cat) continued to make their way deeper into the bowels of the cave, Kohaku leading the way.

"So those guys work for some creep named Lyser, huh?" Mikado asked as they plodded on. "Does that ring a bell for anyone?"

"Huh?" Kohaku asked. "Bells? Why would I ring a bell when I hear someone's name? Is that normal?"

"Nah," Buddy replied. "Mikado's just nuts."

"You know what?" the leaf mage grumbled. "Next time I ask a question, you guys just ignore me, okay?"

"It's probably nothing," Rashid reassured him, clapping his friend on the back. "You know how dark guilds are. They all think they're super bad and that everyone's afraid of them, but outside the Balam Alliance their all talk, no game."

Mikado sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said. _Then why can't I shake this feeling? _he thought. _Something about this whole thing is bugging me._ He stopped and looked up. Kohaku was just standing there, listening, her hands cupped to her ears.

"Yo, Ko-chan!" Rashid called to her. "What's the hold-up?"

Kohaku paused for a moment before calling back. "Do you hear that?" she asked. "That sound's getting louder."

"Sound?" Rashid asked.

"Hm," Mikado pondered. "Now that you mention it, there's been some rumbling sound in the background ever since we left those wackos behind."

Kohaku instantly perked up. "Follow me guys!" she yelled as she took off at a run, Buddy flying after her.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Mikado cried. "Kohaku!" Rashid shrugged his shoulders.

"Better follow her, Miki-kun," he said. So they chased the young dragon slayer through the cave as the dull rumble built up to a loud roar. The cave widened into a large chamber once again, and the quartet found themselves face-to-face with an underground waterfall, pooling in a pristine lake, the water's surface reflecting the cool blue glow of the cave walls.

"Whoa," Mikado breathed in awe.

"Now that's a sight," Rashid said with a grin.

"Hooray!" Kohaku cried. "It's time to play!"

"Yeah!" Buddy agreed. Kohaku kicked off her boots and socks as the two of them rushed to the pool.

"Hold it right there!" Mikado shouted. Kohaku and Buddy applied the brakes and turned to their guildmate, confused.

"What's wrong, Mikado?" Kohaku asked.

"Aren't you two forgetting something? Like, _the whole reason we're here?_" He just got puzzled looks in response. Mikado face-palmed and continued. "We're here on a job, not to have fun, remember? This is work, and our client is expecting us to get it done."

"But Mikado," Kohaku whined. "I haven't played in an underground lake in a really long time."

"Party-pooper" Buddy scowled.

"Ugh," Mikado moaned. "It has nothing to do with that. You guys need to learn to…" He was interrupted by Rashid placing a hand on his shoulder. Mikado turned to him, expecting some stupid joke, but Rashid just shook his head and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"They may have a point, Miki-kun," he said. "We've been at this for a while now, and we _did_ just wallop a whole dark guild. We need to take a break for now, or we're going to be too tired to get any mining done when we find the Mother Lode." He chuckled. "And, you know, it'd be pretty dang pointless if we were too tired to drag our butts back to the surface afterwards. We need to rest now so as to lighten our _lode_ later." He winked at Kohaku. "Get it?" he asked.

"Nope!" she said cheerfully.

"Crap," Rashid mumbled, hanging his head. "Even with the perfect audience I can still screw it up."

"I'd hardly call her perfect," Mikado grumbled.

"Hooray!" Kohaku cheered, throwing her hands in the air and leaping for joy. "It's playtime!"

"Yay!" Buddy shouted.

"But no rough-housing," Rashid called to them. "We're not stopping to use up more energy. You just need to relax for a moment and cool off."

"Aw," the duo sighed.

"Party-pooper," Buddy grumbled.

Little did they know that far above them, at the top of the waterfall, a group of shadows was preparing to strike.

"Are you shitting me?!" Joss squawked, singlehandedly hoisting one of his subordinates by the throat. The underling was battered and bloody, no doubt the work of his commanding officer. "You're saying that the brunt of the Black Slime guild was beaten by a bunch of scrawny brats?! Look at that! One of them's a little girl!" He turned to the man and leaned dangerously close. "Is that what you're telling me?" he asked in a low, savage voice. "That a little girl kicked your ass?"

"N-no Joss-sama!" the man choked. "It was the two guys. The girl didn't even fight."

"Is that so?" Joss sneered. "And how the hell… IS THAT ANY BETTER, DIPSHIT?!" he spun in the air and kicked the man into a wall.

"Now, now Joss," Lyser chuckled. "Don't go blowing things all out of proportion. I'd hardly call _them_ the brunt of our power." He turned to Atlas. "A point that we can clarify with a simple demonstration, can we not, Atlas?"

"It is as you say, Lyser-sama," the dark mage replied, rummaging through his things again. "Let's see here…" he mumbled. "No, not that… This won't work either… I need_ those_ later…" He stopped and grinned. "Ah, here we go." He held up a small package of firecrackers. "These ought to do the job."

"Excellent," Lyser said with an evil smile.

Kohaku, in the meantime, unaware that forces were conspiring against her, gingerly poked her toes into the crystal-clear waters. She let out childish shriek as the chill of the water zoomed through her body. But she didn't seem at all deterred by the low temperatures. On the contrary, she turned to Buddy, smiled, and leapt right in. "Wheee!" she squealed as she splashed through the icy waters. "Come and catch me Buddy!"

"Hee-hee!" the cat giggled. "That's a really funny joke Kohaku! After all, there's no way you could outrun these wings! My victory is assured! Makes sense right?"

Kohaku shot him a determined look and a confident smile. "Not this time old friend. You forgot about my secret technique! Ougi: Suishoryū Shibuku!" With that battle-cry she scooped up a huge handful of water and chucked it at Buddy.

"Uguh!" Buddy cried. "You got me!" He twirled through the air, pretending to die. "But I won't go alone! Cat Dive Bomb!" he cried, plunging into the water and raising a large splash. Kohaku leapt back to avoid the attack, but she hadn't counted on the slippery rocks beneath her bare feet.

"Oh!" she cried as she slipped and fell into the lake, landing on her bottom. The two friends took one look at how thoroughly soaked they were and burst out laughing.

"What do those idiots think they're doing?" Mikado grumbled from his seat on a nearby rock. "Didn't we just tell them _not _to screw around like that? I hope they realize we don't have any way of drying them off."

"They probably don't," Rashid said, smiling as if to tease Mikado.

"Great. Not only are they going to be too tired to help us move the lacrima, they're going to catch colds, wandering around sopping wet in a place like this."

"Maybe, maybe not. After all, one of them has the body of a dragon and the other one's a flying cat, so their stamina is probably pretty different from our own."

"You think so? Makes sense, I guess," Mikado said. He grimaced as a thought crossed his mind. _Oh great, now I'm starting to sound like that cat._

"Hey Mikado! Rashid!" Kohaku called out. "Come join us! The water's nice and cold!

"I think I'll pass, thanks," Mikado replied.

"Sure, thing!" Rashid called back. "I'll be right over!"

"Are you nuts?!" Mikado shouted. "Didn't we _just_ say that was a bad idea?!" Rashid completely ignored him, kicked off his sandals, and went to join the others. Mikado shrugged his shoulders. "Ah well, they say idiots never catch colds anyway…"

"YEEAGH!" Rashid screeched, no doubt waking every living thing in the cave. "That is _COLD!_"

"I know, isn't it great?!" Kohaku cheered, skipping around her friend.

"How could you possibly stand this?" Rashid asked. "I've only been in here a couple of seconds and my toes are already numb." Kohaku tilted her head to the side, puzzled.

"Like this," she said. Her answer confused Rashid, until he figured out that she was _literally_ showing him how she was standing there.

"I mean, isn't it a little _too_ cold?" the young man clarified.

"Not really," Kohaku said with a giggle. "When I was little, whenever I got too dirty Papa would track down an underground river or spring and had me take a bath there, and I did the same for Buddy when I found him. I guess we're just used to it!"

Rashid shivered. "I wish I could say the same thing," he said, "but I grew up in a desert, so I'm not exactly a fan of low temperatures."

Kohaku looked down at her feet. "I really like it though," she said softly. "Getting to play in the water like this really takes me back, so thank-you."

"No problem. You must really miss your Papa, huh?"

Her smile faded. "Yeah, every day."

"I know how you feel," Rashid told her, turning his gaze to the ceiling. "I lost someone important to me a long time ago too, though not quite the same way." He shifted his eyes to Mikado, watching from the shore. "Don't tell him I said it, but I'm thinking Miki-kun might be in the same situation. He just doesn't like to talk about it. I think… I think everyone in the guild has felt some kind of real hurt in their lives." He turned to the ceiling again. "But I think that's what makes Fox Tail so great, you know? We all know what it means to lose someone or something important, so we all understand each other's pain. It's part of what brings us all together; what makes us a family." He turned to Kohaku, and was surprised to see her eyes watering. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just…"

Kohaku hugged him. Rashid, for once in his life, was speechless. "Thank-you Rashid," she whispered into his chest. "Thank-you."

"Uh, Ko-chan?" Rashid stammered. "You shouldn't lean on me like that. We're going to…" Too late. His bare feet shifted against the slick rocks, and the two of them tumbled backwards. Rashid turned quickly to avoid falling in the water, only to land on a bunch of rocks on the shore, with Kohaku on top of him. "Ouch…" he groaned.

"Are you okay, Rashid?" Kohaku asked, flustered.

"Oww. That's karma I guess. I upset her and she upsets me, get it?"

Before Kohaku had the chance to break into her usually giggling fit, a massive explosion ripped across the roof of the cave.

"Kyaa!" Kohaku cried, covering her ears.

"What the heck?!" Rashid yelled.

"Look out!" Mikado shouted, already on his feet. Rashid and Kohaku looked up in time to see a massive slew of boulders heading their way. "Get out of there!"

"Don't need to!" Kohaku cried, leaping onto the shore. She turned her attention to the incoming rocks, firmly planted her feet, dug her toes into the ground, and reared back her fist. Suishoryū…" she began as she punched the air, unleashing an incredibly tall pillar of crystal into the mass of rock.

"Mokuhon!" she cried. Instantly, the pillar sprouted multiple new pillars horizontally – looking something like a giant tree – and smashed the boulders. The resulting smaller rocks fell harmlessly around them. "There we go!" Kohaku chirped as her arm returned to normal. "Problem solved."

"I'll say," Buddy chimed in.

"I won't say," Mikado said. His arms were crossed and his face set grim. "You guys heard that explosion, right? That cave-in was no accident. Someone else is here, and whoever they are, they're not friendly."

"Shit," Joss griped, still at the top of the waterfall. "Would you get a load of that? That little kid just blew away your cave-in, Atlas. Either she's pretty good or you're magic ain't worth shit," he sneered. Atlas remained silent.

"I'd say the former is more likely, Joss," Lyser told him. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "How intriguing! And to think she didn't even participate in the fight with our guild."

"Makes you wonder," Atlas said, smiling as he caught on to his master's train of thought, "if maybe_ she's_ the reason they got this far so quickly."

"My thoughts exactly, Atlas," Lyser said. He turned to leave back down the tunnels. "No more games boys. It's time we got to know this little girl better, don't you think?" The two minions gave each other looks that oozed evil, then followed their master.

But as for the Fox Tail wizards, they decided it was time to get moving. After Kohaku and Buddy shook themselves dry (answering one of Mikado's questions), and Rashid and Kohaku put their shoes back on, the quartet resumed their journey through the seemingly endless maze of tunnels.

"We're going to need to be extra careful from now on," Mikado told them. "Now that we know someone is trying to kill us, we're all going to have to keep our eyes peeled for the remainder of the mission." Kohaku opened her mouth to speak, but Mikado cut her off. "Except for you, Kohaku. You just look around carefully, and keep those super senses of yours busy. And personally, the cat can do whatever he wants with his eyeballs, I don't care." Buddy shut his mouth and glared at Mikado. Still, he remained silent, so the leaf mage found nothing to complain about.

"No doubt those Black Slime guys are behind this," Rashid added as they pulled into another open space. "They must be pretty desperate to keep us away from the Mother Lode."

"Yeah but it won't make a difference what they do!" Buddy said, pumping his arms as he psyched himself out. "Kohaku will still kick their butts nine ways to Sunday!"

"Oh I very much doubt that," someone else chimed in. The four all turned to the center of the room, now occupied by three figures: the Black Slime officers. "You see," one of them, standing behind the others, said. "We dark guilds tend to be much stronger than you official guild wizards give us credit for." The figure stepped out from behind the others, revealing a tall, gaunt man, dressed in black, sleeveless cloak over a gray shirt and pants. The man's face was thin, with a pointed chin, tattoos around his sunken eyes, and, reaching to his shoulders, what appeared to be…

"Is it me, or does the guy threatening us have hot pink hair?" Mikado asked. The Fox Tail members looked at each other and burst into raucous laughter. Except for Kohaku. "Aw man, that really kills any attempt to take you seriously," Mikado chuckled.

"I wonder if they rank their guys by dumbest hairdo," Rashid laughed. "What do you think Miki-kun?"

"Pink! Hee-hee!" Buddy giggled.

"I don't get it," Kohaku murmured.

"Why you little brats!" Atlas barked.

"These know-nothing hicks think they can just waltz right in here and piss off the Black Slime?!" Joss growled. Lyser held out one hand to stay his subordinates.

"Now, now you two, there's no need to get testy," he said. "It only makes you seem weak, allowing yourselves to be provoked by mere children."

"Actually, I think it's the pink rug that makes you seem weak," Mikado pointed out.

"Seriously, I don't get it," Kohaku fussed.

"Now, now, there's no need to be rude," Lyser said. "I'm actually here to make a deal with you."

"What are you talking about?" Mikado asked.

"It's very simple. We're all after the same thing here, are we not? The Mother Lode? But it seems that my guild has suddenly found itself shorthanded, so I could use some volunteers."

"I'll help!" Kohaku chirped, raising her hand.

"No you won't," Mikado and Rashid said in unison as they moved Kohaku behind them.

"Ignoring the nitwit," Mikado continued. "Why the hell would we go and help a dark guild? Especially one that tried to kill us earlier?"

"A good question," Lyser pointed out. "And one with a very simple answer. If you don't help us, then I'm afraid we're going to have to do the exact same thing to you that we did to that old man earlier." Kohaku's body tensed up.

"Old man?" she asked, her voice very low and threatening. "You mean the gnome, don't you? What did you do to him?"

"It hardly matters, does it? A withered old waste of life like that? There was so little left in him that I doubt our… _interactions_ made much of a difference."

"Hardly matters?" Kohaku repeated. "Hardly matters?! He's my _friend_ you creep! Now I'm only going to ask you this one more time. What. Did. You. Do?!"

"Oh dear," Lyser chuckled, shaking his head. "I can already tell you're going to be a troublesome one. Well, if you're not willing to cooperate, I suggest you come at me and find out exactly how badly we hurt the old…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, for right then Kohaku shot a pillar of crystal right into his gut, sending Lyser sailing to the other end of the room. The dark wizard slumped against the wall of the cave.

"Master!" Atlas cried.

"You bitch!" Joss snapped.

"Wow," Mikado said. _Interesting. This is a side of Kohaku I haven't seen before._

"Nice one, Ko-chan!" Rashid added.

Lyser's head shot up as an insane grin spread across his face. "You've just made a very grave mistake little girl," he taunted Kohaku. "I'm afraid the negotiations are over. I'm going to have to kill you just like I did that old man."

Kohaku let out an enraged roar and charged at Lyser, already forming a new pillar on her arm.

"You think I'll let you get by me?!" Atlas cried, reaching into his bag. But before he could grab something, a blast of leaves knocked him over.

"You bet I do," Mikado said, glowing leaves dancing in the air around his hand.

"Oh," Joss sneered. "Looks like this brat needs his ass handed to him!" He moved to charge at Mikado, only for a knife to sail by the bridge of his nose, stopping him cold.

"Forget about him," Rashid said, pointing another dagger at his enemy. "You've got enough to deal with, don't you think?"

Joss glowered at him. "You piece of shit."

"Suishoryū Kon!" Kohaku shouted as she fired another attack at Lyser, only this time the evil mage leapt out of the way, causing the attack to smash the wall of the cave instead.

"If you want answers, little girl, you're going to have to catch me," Lyser said with a smirk. He dashed down another tunnel before Kohaku could stop him.

"Get back here!" Kohaku cried.

"Kohaku, wait!" Mikado called out.

"Oh no you don't!" Atlas shouted, reaching into his rucksack again. "That little brat may have gotten away, but you two are going to die here!" He threw what appeared to be two old rice bowls into the air. "Reforge: Turtle Arena!" he shouted. Instantly the bowls grew hundreds of time their original size and fell towards the feuding wizards.

"What the?!" Rashid cried.

"Kohaku!" Mikado yelled again. "Don't let that guy get away! This is your first job as a Fox Tail wizard, so do it right! You got me?!" With a loud slam the two bowls hit the ground, one covering Mikado and Atlas, and the other Rashid and Joss, cutting them off from the rest of the world.

"No problem," Kohaku said, lowering her head and sprinting down the tunnel, full speed ahead. "Just watch me."


	5. Chapter 5: Dual!

Chapter 5: Dual!

"Are you done?" Atlas asked. He stared Mikado down, having regained his composure at last.

"I think so," Mikado replied, taking in his new surroundings. The entire inside of the rice-bowl-turned-dome was a luminescent white, except for three wavy blue lines near the base. He was surprised he could see so well, cut off from the outside world. He figured that the same magic used to make the bowl grow must be lighting the place up. "But man," he said, shrugging his shoulders and smirking. "It took a long time for these things to fall. I probably could've cleared them before they even got _close _to the ground."

"Big talk," Atlas said. "If that's the case, why didn't you?"

"Oh come on, now, that should be obvious. If I escaped, who'd be here to kick your sorry butt?"

"You're arrogance will be your undoing – and that of your friends as well."

"Damn it!" Joss swore from the other arena. This one was white as well, but the walls were dotted with pink, cartoony flowers. "That asshole! Sticking me in this frilly piece of shit! I ought to kill him next!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Rashid casually objected. "Kill him _next_? Don't _I _get a say in this? I kind of like living, you know?"

"Ha!" Joss laughed. "Are you shitting me? You chose to die the minute you set foot in this cave! The only choice you get now is between standing there and letting me kill you, or letting me chase you first!" He shot Rashid another vicious grin. "Although by all means," he said, lowering his voice to a snarl. "Go ahead and pick door number two. I haven't had any real fun all day!"

"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Rashid said. He smiled, then requipped a knife in his hand. "Well, door number three it is then!" he said as he let the blade fly.

"Leaf Cyclone!" Mikado shouted as he unleashed a horizontal tornado of leaves from his hand. Atlas quickly leapt out of the way, causing the attack to crash into the wall of the dome instead.

"Leaves?" Atlas asked. "So this is the magic that beat our guild? I can't say it looks very impressive."

"Yeah, well looks can be deceiving," Mikado replied. _Okay_, he thought. _So much for that. I thought that my attack would have at least put a crack in the wall, but I guess not. I'll have to find some other way out of here, otherwise it won't matter if I beat this guy or not. I have to get him talking._ "Anyway," he continued. "A guy throwing around giant rice bowls shouldn't criticize the way someone's magic looks."

"You have a point, I'll give you that," his opponent conceded. "But like you said, looks can be deceiving. My Turtle Arena is completely indestructible. That's what you wanted to know, right?" he gave Mikado an arrogant grin, though the Fox Tail mage's own expression remained unchanged. "For all your talk, your first instinct was to run, wasn't it?"

"Not at all," Mikado said. "I just didn't want to be trapped in here with your ugly mug when I win! Leaf Spiral!" A wave of leaves spun around the room, with Mikado at their center, but his opponent simply flipped over him.

"Then I'm afraid you're stuck here," Atlas coolly replied. He pulled a match out of his pocket and struck it against his pant leg. "Reforge: Torch Whip!" he cried. The match instantly grew several times over, until it was a foot long, and the fire itself snaked out and took the form of a whip. Atlas cracked it, dissipating Mikado's attack. "You see," he said as he landed, still facing Mikado. "My Reforge Magic allows me to take any item and imbue it with my own power, changing its shape and forging it into a tool for destruction. Anything, from a scrap of paper to a child's wooden sword is a deadly weapon in my hands, and they'll only change back when I withdraw my magic."

Mikado grinned. "That's just what I wanted to hear. In other words if I cut off the source, this stupid dome disappears."

Atlas grinned back. "If you can manage it."

Right next door, Rashid let loose a flurry of knives against Joss. "Oh, come on, IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!" the dark mage screeched. As the blades reached him, Joss stood on one leg and spun in place, twisting his body around so that not a single knife reached its target. "I couldn't pick my teeth with that shit!"

_Well that's intersting, _Rashid thought. _This guy can spin around so fast his body is a blur, but he still dodges every single knife. What kind of magic is that anyway? _Rashid concentrated and gestured, and the knives arced back through the air, plunging towards Joss from above. But the villain simply spun out of the way, and the knives hit nothing but the cave floor.

"Told you, dipshit!" Joss cried. "My Spin Magic not only lets me rotate my body at high speeds, but it enhances my reflexes to the point that nothing can touch me! Certainly not some half-assed knife thrower! You ain't got a snowball's chance in hell of even scratching me, SO GIVE UP!"

"No, I don't think I will," Rashid replied. He gave his opponent a mellow smile, an expression absolutely devoid of fear. "Who knows?" he chuckled. "Maybe Old Scratch left the air conditioning on down there?" He flung his arms to the side, sending out one knife to the right and another to the left. Rashid gestured in the air and the blades made a sharp turn, charging at Joss from both sides simultaneously.

"I _told _you that shit won't work!" the spinning mage cried, twisting around with more speed than a child's top but more precision than a ballet dancer, causing the knives to catch each other and fall to the ground. All the while Joss remained rooted to that spot. "Let me guess, you're the dumbass of the group, aren't you?"

"You haven't talked to the cat yet, have you?" Rashid asked, still smiling.

Meanwhile, Mikado continued to launch blasts of leaves at Atlas, but they all missed or were burned out of the air by the dark mage's whip. "Is this really all you can do?" Atlas asked. "You really are a one trick pony, aren't you?" He reached into his rucksack and pulled out an empty bottle. "It's too bad for you that my magic is the most versatile there is." He threw the bottle into the air, his eyes never leaving Mikado. "Reforge…" he started as it fell back towards him. He cracked the flaming whip, smashing the bottle to pieces. "Shatter Cannon!" he cried. Instantly the shattered glass turned into a flurry of sharpened projectiles, all heading for Mikado with the force of a shotgun.

But the leaf mage was ready. He gathered the leaves between his hands, forming a glowing ball. "Leaf Blizzard!" he shouted, shooting a thick cloud of leaves that consumed the projectiles.

"Pointless," Atlas muttered. He cracked the whip again, burning a hole in the oncoming wall big enough for him to pass through. "As long as I have my Torch Whip, your attacks aren't coming anywhere near me."

"I didn't intend them to!" Mikado cried, bursting out of the leaves to Atlas's left. This caught Atlas off guard long enough for Mikado to punch him in the face, causing the dark mage to drop his weapon. As the whip clattered to the ground, Mikado lunged at it, but Atlas snapped his fingers and the weapon reverted to a burnt-out matchstick.

"Not bad," Atlas congratulated his opponent. "But like I already said, pointless. I have a thousand other weapons to replace it." He reached into his bag and pulled out a firecracker. "Reforge: Nova Bomb!" he cried as he tossed the now glowing firework. The leaf mage gritted his teeth and dove toward the wall, but not far enough. The bomb exploded, and though Mikado avoided the blast, the shockwave shook the whole dome and flung him against one of the walls.

"Well, I guess I know who tried to drop the cave on us earlier," he grunted as the smoke cleared and he pulled himself to his feet.

"Indeed," Atlas said, grinning. "You might even say I'm one of my guild's most prized mages."

"Arrogant punk," Mikado grumbled.

Rashid wasn't having much luck either. He tried rushing around Joss, throwing a continuous stream of knives as his opponent, but the spinning mage merely danced around them, not even breaking a sweat.

"Are you done yet?" Joss cackled. "Because this knife show's getting really boring. In fact, I think I'm going to have to cancel you in favor of something more fun." Joss crouched done on one leg, stretched the other out and started spinning in place, going so fast that he actually came off the ground.

"What the hell-icopter?!" Rashid cried. To the knife mage's amazement, Joss continued spinning faster and faster, climbing higher and higher into the air. Soon he was actually flying around the room, looking like an upside-down top spinning on an invisible ceiling. "I had no idea that this guy's magic was so uplifting!" Rashid paused and listened for some kind of response.

"Now I'm _really_ going to kill you," Joss grumbled.

_Did he say something yet?_ Rashid thought. _If he did, I couldn't hear him. All that spinning is distorting any sound he might make. Too bad. I thought that was a good one. Hoping for a chuckle or something. Oh well, that's life._ He requipped more knives. _Still, this may make things a bit harder for me to deal with. Guess I'll have to just see how well he can dodge in the air._ He flung the knives, gesturing commands as the blades flew through the air like a swarm of bees, rapidly closing in on their target. But Joss deftly shifted out of the way, the knives slicing nothing but empty air.

"Oh come on, really?" Joss snickered, grinning like a hyena at his helpless opponent. "That's the best you could come up with? Just throw a shitload of knives at once and hope something sticks? Are all official guild wizards as big of dumbasses as you?"

"What did you say?" Rashid called in an extra loud voice, hoping it'd carry through the distortion. "I couldn't understand a word of it. Was it something about my jokes? Because seriously, I've never had anyone just completely ignore me before. I usually get either a laugh or a groan, or occasionally an object thrown at my head, but it's always something."

Joss's grin faded, replaced by a toothy, contemptuous grimace. "That's it, I'm killing this bastard."

Rashid ordered the knives around again, chasing Joss through the air. But no matter how close they seemed to come, the dark mage would always move out of the way, forcing Rashid to recalculate his attack.

"You know what?" Joss asked. "That's some really pathetic magic you've got there! It looks impressive, but it's nothing more than a load of crap! You may be able to control a lot of knives, but they don't do shit if they can't hit! And any wizard worth a damn could block that without even trying!" As Joss spoke, Rashid attempted to bring the load of knives down on the dark mage's head, but Joss easily dodged yet again, causing the blades to crash into the ground, stuck.

Joss gave another vile grin as he spun in an arc around the perimeter of the bowl. "But that's not all!" he continued. "It looks to me like you need to concentrate a lot to control so many knives at once. One or two, no big deal, but a whole shitload like that and you're stuck in one place!" He stopped circling the room and made a beeline for Rashid. "YOUR OWN MAGIC LEAVES YOU WIDE OPEN, DUMBASS!"

"What?" Rashid called out again. "I really can't understand you!" _I wonder if he can't hear me either…_ Rashid snapped himself out of his thoughts just in time to see Joss stop in front of him, instantaneously concentrating all his power into a swift kick to the head. The force of the blow sent Rashid smashing right into the wall of the dome.

"My magic, on the other hand, is way out of your league." Joss gloated, as he landed on his feet, a look of utter triumph on his face. "It lets me build up so much speed that my kicks are amplified one hundred times over. Get it, dumbass? THIS IS MAGIC YOU CAN'T BEAT! THE ULTIMATE OFFENSE AND DEFENSE! THIS IS THE POWER OF 'SPIN PSYCHO' JOSS!"

Rashid pulled himself away from the wall, which remained unharmed. Too bad Rashid couldn't say the same about himself. His head was spinning something fierce, and as he put a hand to his temple to steady himself, he felt something warm and sticky. Blood.

"'Spin Psycho?'" Rashid asked with a grin as he got back on his feet. "That's actually pretty funny. Did you come up with that, or did someone else give you that name?" Again, Joss's own grin vanished, replaced with a look of disgust.

"You are really starting to piss me off, you know that?" he growled.

Meanwhile, Mikado's attacks seemed to be just as ineffective as Rashid's. _Okay, this guy's really starting to tick me off!_ he thought. _He reaches into that stupid bag of his like he's going to pull out another weapon, and instead he just gets himself a piece of gum?! This guy is too cocky for words!_

Atlas, on the other hand, calmly chewing his gum, surveyed his opponent and felt around in his rucksack for his next attack. _Okay,_ he thought. _Let's see how you take this._ He pulled out a bottle cap and flicked it at Mikado. "Reforge: Death Disk!" he cried. The cap grew in size as the ridges morphed into a serrated blade. Mikado just barely avoided losing his head, the edge cutting his cheek. "Don't think you're done yet," Atlas said. Mikado turned in time to see the disk arc through the air and come at him again. But he side-stepped the attack and fired another Leaf Cyclone, sending the projectile sailing.

"And while you're doing that…!" Atlas cried as he charged forward, pulling a paper clip out of his bag. "Reforge: Joint Rapier!" The paper clip uncurled itself and formed a steel bar bent at several right angles, resembling a staircase. Mikado managed to glimpse his attacker out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't think so!" he cried as he spun out of the way. But before Mikado could turn and face Atlas, the paper clip weapon bent at the joints, impaling Mikado's right shoulder from behind. "GYAAH!" he screamed, collapsing to the ground as the blade pulled itself out, returning to its original shape.

"And don't forget…" Atlas said, flicking a finger towards his opponent. The Death Disk – which had crashed to the ground after Mikado's last attack – came back to life, zoomed at Mikado, and ripped into his back, spraying blood into the air. Mikado screamed in pain again, falling to his knees.

"Look at you," Atlas spat. "Pathetic. I could hardly count on someone like you to put up a decent fight. I thought a mage strong enough to decimate my guild, who could show such confidence when confronting the leaders of that same guild, would have at least an inkling of the skills necessary to back his attitude, but it turns out I was wrong. You're less than worthless. How could you people possibly have gotten this far on your own? If she's anything like you, that girl will die in the caves before she gets anywhere near my master."

Mikado clutched his left shoulder, his breath ragged. The edge of that bottle cap evidently did more damage than the paper clip, but it looked like he'd have a hard time using either arm now. Still, he turned to his opponent and gave him a defiant grin.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "Your master won't be able to break a hundred meters before Kohaku catches him. There's no way that nose of hers will lose him. Not down here. The Crystal Dragon Slayer is in her element in these caverns."

"Crystal Dragon Slayer?" Atlas said, a look of faint surprise on his face. "Now that _is _interesting." He reached into his rucksack again, and Mikado gasped as his opponent pulled out a communications lacrima. "Did you hear all that Lyser-sama?" Atlas asked.

"Oh quite clearly," Lyser's voice crackled from the crystal. "That's just what I needed to here. Now we can end this little charade and collect the Mother Lode." Mikado could only stare in shock as Atlas replaced the lacrima.

"Funny thing about this Mother Lode," Atlas said. "It's been a bear to find." He pulled a pair of dowsing rods out of the rucksack. "Up until now I'd been enhancing these with my powers, turning them into tools that can track any form of magic, but the Mother Lode is too powerful. The magic it gives off has actually been interfering with my tracking capabilities. We've been searching this cave for weeks now, and with nothing to show for it. But we knew we were close." He returned the rods to the bag as he continued. "Then a few hours ago, we left the guild down here as Lyser-sama, Joss, and I headed to the surface to interrogate that old man. And he let it slip that he had hired some official guild wizards to find the Mother Lode for him. I didn't think it was a big deal; it turned out the geezer had no clue where the Mother Lode was, so there was no way you people could catch up to us in time. But when we got back, surprise, surprise, our entire guild had been defeated. How was that possible? We had weeks and you had hours, there was no way you could have gotten so close so fast unless you had some extremely powerful tracking magic. Now, thanks to your careless, arrogant words, we know what it was. Not only that, but now Lyser-sama knows how she'll fight. Soon he'll have her: the ticket to the Mother Lode."

"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah," Mikado muttered as he struggled to his feet. "You really love to hear yourself talk, don't you? Let me tell you something: it doesn't matter what you or your Master know, Fox Tail can't lose to creeps like you."

For a moment, Atlas was speechless. "How foolish. How positively foolish," he finally said. "Can't you take even a moment to assess your situation? It's like I'm talking to an animal. No, an animal can learn from its mistakes. All you do is charge at me, with no plan at all. That's why you're going to die here." He spat his gum into his hand. "You operate by instinct, while _everything_ I do has intention. Observe. Reforge: Sticky Net!" He flung out his hand, unleashing a massive web of gunk into the air. There was no room for Mikado to dodge at all; he was covered in the goo.

"What the heck is this crap?!" Mikado cried. "I can't move at all!"

"Worse than that," Atlas explained. "My Sticky Net hardens as soon as it's settled, leaving you in a trap as solid as concrete." He reached in his rucksack and pulled out a curved piece of pipe. "Reforge: Aqua Destroyer!" With that, the pipe transformed into a large, futuristic gun. Atlas glared down the sighting at his opponent. "This is how you win a fight. Remember that in your next life!" Atlas fired the gun, unleashing a powerful stream of water. Mikado could only scream in terror as the blast pulverized his head.

The floor of Rashid's dome, on the other hand, was littered with knives, while Joss remained unscathed. "So what do you say?" the dark mage cackled. "Ready to die now?" Rashid said nothing, merely staring at the one knife he still held in his hand.

"That's it," he said. "I'm done." He cast the knife into the ground at his feet.

"Damn straight you're done." Joss sneered, failing to notice the glowing green lines spreading along the ground amongst the discarded blades. "Now I can take my sweet time and kill yo-u r-e-a-l s – l – o – w – l – y…?" Joss's words – indeed his entire body – slowed down as if he were a toy losing power. As if moving through a mass of syrup, the mage slowly looked at his hand, turning it just as slowly as his face thawed into a look of confusion.

"Time Circle," Rashid said. He scratched his head and casually strolled over to his opponent. "Man, that magic of yours was a pain in the ass. Do you have any idea how hard it was to set this up? See, my knives are special little things, imbued with a magic that unleashes some pretty amazing effects when I arrange them the right way." He stopped in front of the terrified Joss, who was only now showing signs of his situation sinking in. "Take for example my Time Circle, right now slowing you down to only a fraction of your normal speed, allowing me to do _this!_" he grunted as he socked Joss in the gut, forcing him to slowly reel back. "Of course, it can be kind of tricky to pull it off. I almost had a good circle formed before you took to the air like that, but as soon as you moved that plan went south." He punched Joss again, once more forcing him back. "Thanks to that, I had to set up this Time Circle, but I had to get a _ton_ of knives out to make it effective across this much of the room, so I had to play the sap for a while." He kicked Joss this time.

"W – h – a – t a – r – e y – o – u …?" Joss slurred, not understanding a word of Rashid's speech as the knife mage hit him again.

"Oh!" Rashid quipped. "And here's that first circle I set up earlier, right below your feet. Thanks for your cooperation." He threw one last knife into the ground beneath Joss. A series of red lines spread into a smaller circle beneath the villain. "Burst Circle," Rashid said as he turned to walk away. A fiery column exploded throughout the boundaries of the circle, engulfing Joss and blasting him into the air. "Yeah, you were right; my magic's screwed up," Rashid said, pushing his shades up his nose. "And I'm not nearly as powerful as Eva-chan or Silver-san, but I think this time around I'll do just fine." As the fires died he turned and looked around, ignoring Joss's burned, unconscious body hitting the ground.

"Now how do I get out of here?"

"There was never any escape for you," Atlas said as he walked away from Mikado's corpse. "Now to unlock the Turtle Arena and go rejoin the Master." He smiled to himself as a funny thought crossed his mind. "Maybe I should just leave Joss in there for a little while, just until we find the Mother Lode."

"Sheesh, that was some attack," Mikado complained. "That much power could kill even a mage at my level." Atlas gasped in terror as he whirled around to find the leaf mage staring at the spot where his body had lain only seconds ago. Not only was he completely unharmed, but there wasn't a trace of the Sticky Net on him. Even the spot where the body had been was level, showing no signs of hardening around a standing form.

"What the…? What the hell…?" the dark mage could barely stammer as he stared, dumbstruck.

"Of course, it doesn't do you any good if you can't hit me."

Atlas tried to think, but he was too shocked – frightened even. "What the hell are you?!" he cried as he fired the water cannon again. This time the shot went straight through Mikado's chest. Atlas smirked, but that disappeared as soon as the attack cleared and Mikado turned to him, again unharmed. "Th- THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Atlas screamed.

"Did you know that in the old days Leaf Magic had another name?" Mikado asked coldly as he walked towards his trembling enemy. "Back then it was named after its original practitioners: Tanuki Magic." Atlas shot him again, but this time Mikado disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a single leaf fluttering in the air. The terrified dark mage looked all over for his enemy, trying to find him before he was found.

"This," Mikado said, popping up in front of Atlas, causing the latter to leap in terror, "is the true power of Leaf Magic: genjutsu." Atlas desperately pulled out a notebook and shot sharpened paper blades from it, only for it to do nothing once more.

"You didn't know it," Mikado explained, "but after you threw that bomb I sent out a Leaf Clone, a fake that you've been fighting this entire time. I knew that something was off about your boss's behavior from the moment he turned to run without any rhyme or reason. You guys were up to something, and I had to know what. So I let you think you were beating me the whole time, letting your ego swell up until you spilled everything. You thought you were so clever, but between my illusions and your own arrogance…" He disappeared again.

_Damn it!_ Joss thought. _What kind of magic is this?! How can his voice be coming from an optical illusion?! WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!_

"That I was right behind you this whole time."

Atlas turned not so much from realization as from shock and horror, but it was too late: Mikado had him. "Leaf Shock!" the Fox Tail mage cried as he fired a concentrated blast of green energy right into his enemy's gut, sending him sailing across the room.

"Now then," Mikado asked, standing triumphant, not knowing that there were two down and only one left to go, "which of us is the schemer and which is the animal?"


	6. Chapter 6: The Crystal Dragon's Weakness

Chapter 6: The Crystal Dragon's Weakness

"And now that that's over with…" Mikado muttered as he surveyed the battlefield. "Any second now…" No sooner did he speak the words than Atlas's Turtle Arena reverted back to two rice bowls, which fell to the ground and shattered on impact. "Guess you won't be using those anymore," Mikado taunted the fallen dark mage.

"Oh hey, sweet! The walls are gone!" someone else exclaimed. Mikado turned to the source of the voice and found Rashid standing amidst a whole mess of knives and one charred-looking wizard. "I guess they decided to beat it when I beat him," the knife mage said. He turned to Mikado and gave him a sly grin. "Get it?"

Mikado was utterly dumbfounded by that one. _Just let it go Mikado,_ he thought. _Just let it go._ "Look, let's just find Kohaku and get out of here," he said. "There's no point in sticking around if these guys were serious about that old man. It would probably be best for the kid if we got back to the guild."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Rashid sighed. "But how do you suppose we find her? Neither of us has any tracking magic, and we aren't exactly spelunking aficionados."

"I can help!" a voice cried. The two Fox Tail wizards looked up to find Buddy circling overhead.

"Hey, wait a minute," Mikado started. "Where did you come from?"

"An egg," Buddy responded, a shot of smugness in his voice at Mikado's silly question.

"Ha-ha, funny," Mikado muttered. "I mean where were you when we were fighting?"

"I got caught in that flying lunch bowl that guy with the sock on his head threw. I figured I had a front row seat to your fight Mikado." The leaf mage opened his mouth to complain that Buddy _could_ have helped him out there, but then realized that the cat probably had the right idea, all things considered.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter now," Mikado said. "Kohaku said she raised you underground, right? We need someone who can find their way around a cave. Think you can help with that?" he asked. _Though that cat is by _far_ the last person I'd want in charge of directions._

"No problem!" Buddy chirped.

"It… It won't matter if you can find her or not," another voice interrupted. They turned to find Atlas – badly beaten yet still conscious – glaring at them from the cave floor. "That girl was doomed the moment she chose to fight the Master… By the time you find her Lyser-sama will have the Mother Lode… And she'll be dead."

"Huh? Thought I finished that guy already," Mikado muttered. "Guess he's a little tougher than I thought… A little." He shook his head and addressed his defeated enemy. "Look pal, you've got it all wrong. Your boss is the one who's in trouble. 'Cause if the rest of your guild is any indication, there's no way he could be strong enough to beat Kohaku."

"Not even if his magic specializes in taking her down…?" the dark mage asked, his mouth forming an evil smile. That one got the foxes' attention.

"What do you mean?" Mikado asked.

"You'll find out soon enough…" Atlas mocked weakly. "Just know that Lyser-sama is far stronger than Joss and I combined… And that no stone mage – dragon, crystal, or whatever else – can beat him... That girl doesn't have a prayer."

"KOHAKU!" Buddy cried. "Don't worry! I'm coming!" He zoomed down the tunnels so fast his fellow foxes could hardly follow him.

"Gah!" Mikado shouted. "Rashid! After that idiot!"

"Roger."

Meanwhile, Kohaku continued to pursue Lyser, though with greater difficulty than she expected. She launched another crystal pillar at the Black Slime Master, but he dodged it with ease, even while fleeing the Dragon Slayer.

_It's weird,_ Kohaku thought. _None of my attacks have even touched this guy since we left the others. How can he dodge stuff _now_ that I was hitting him with just fine earlier? And what was he saying to that delicious looking crystal, anyway? Something's up here, so I'd better close the distance _fast_._

The two of them pulled into another room-like tunnel, and Lyser stopped as soon as he reached the center. "That should be far enough," he said, that mocking lilt still heavy in his voice.

_Now's my chance!_ Kohaku thought. "Suishoryū Geta!" she cried, firing crystalline pillars from her feet and launching herself at high speeds. Lyser turned just in time to see the Crystal Dragon Slayer coming at him like a missile. Kohaku disconnected the pillars from her feet and somersaulted in the air. "Suishoryū Ono!" she cried as she formed a double-bladed axe head around her right leg and brought it down on her opponent.

"Can't have that," Lyser teased Kohaku. To the Dragon Slayer's surprise, the dark mage caught her blade in one hand, stopping the attack cold and – even more surprising – leaving him with no visible injuries. Kohaku's jaw dropped as Lyser gave her a cold smirk. "You need to back off for just a second, I think," he said, unleashing a pressurized burst of purple liquid from the palm of his hand, destroying the axe and shooting the girl several feet away. Undaunted, the Fox Tail mage simply flipped through the air and landed on her feet.

_What was that?_ Kohaku wondered. _How can he take my Suishoryū Ono without a scratch? I wish Buddy was here. He could figure it out._ But she wouldn't need her old friend's help understanding this one, as right then Kohaku got a weird feeling in her right foot: something wet and sloppy was squishing between her toes. She stepped back, looking down to find that her right leg below the knee was bare, the remains of her footwear dripping off of her. Worse, her bare skin stung a little. Disgusted and slightly worried, she shook the offending liquids off.

"So, my faithful officer Atlas tells me you're a Crystal Dragon Slayer," Lyser said, his voice like the meow of a cat that had just cornered a mouse. "Well, I'm sorry to say, but that won't do you a lick of good here. With my magic I can produce vast quantities of a powerful acid." He shook his head in mock pity. "I'm afraid you chose a bad opponent, little girl. No matter how powerful your attacks are, they'll lose their edge and melt under my…"

He was cut off as a shoe flew at his head. He caught it before it struck his face, but his expression betrayed anger at being interrupted. Kohaku, on the other hand, simply slipped off her remaining sock and threw it on the ground. "There, that's better," she said, wiggling her now bare toes. "It'll be easier to keep my balance barefoot than with only one shoe." Kohaku turned her attention to Lyser and shot him a confident smirk. "Never underestimate a Dragon Slayer, Mr. Bad Guy."

"Do you really think it will be that simple?" Lyser asked, melting Kohaku's shoe and throwing the remains to the ground. "Sometimes the nature of magic is more important than fighting skills."

"Not today it isn't! Suishoryū Geta!" Kohaku cried, launching herself sideways. "KON!" she screamed as she fired another crystal attack.

"Then allow me to prove you wrong," Lyser scoffed. "Acid Splash!" he cried as he fired a blast of acid from his hand, dissolving the Suishoryū Kon before it reached him. Undeterred, Kohaku leapt at her opponent and clasped both hands together, forming an oversized crystal sledgehammer.

"Suishoryū Tsuchi!" she shouted as she attempted to smash Lyser. But the Black Slime mage simply raised his hand, shooting a burst of acid that ate away the head of the hammer. The shaft crashed to the ground, shattering the stone floor of the cave.

"Impressive," Lyser said. "That was quite a fierce, heavy attack. But it doesn't do you any good if it can't touch me."

"I'm just getting warmed up!" Kohaku cried. She dove forward, landing on her hands. "Suishoryū Kama!" she shouted, creating a scythe around each leg, and spinning them at Lyser. The dark mage leapt backwards and fired more acid, but Kohaku was ready for him. "Kon!" she cried as she generated a pillar from each hand, sending herself flying over Lyser. "Try and melt _this!_" she yelled as she puffed up her cheeks. "Suishoryū no Hōkō!" She let loose her breath weapon, a hurricane of sharpened crystals.

"Oh please," Lyser sneered as he turned around. "You can't be serious." He put both hands together and fired an extra big burst of acid with so much power behind it that it not only overwhelmed Kohaku's attack, but splashed her in spite of the roar propelling her away. As Kohaku landed she gasped in pain and held her stomach. She looked down to find that the acid had nicked her front: a good chunk of her shirt was missing now, exposing her belly and some small red patches of raw skin.

"Drat!" Lyser hissed. "I was careless. I have to be more careful – I can't risk killing her until after I find the Mother Lode. Still," he said, regaining his composure and flicking some acid off his fingers, "I'm surprised that that's all my acid did. Most people would be missing a lot more than some clothing after getting splashed with my magic." Kohaku glared at him, but the Black Slime Master continued as the two circled one another. "Does that have something to do with your magic, I wonder?"

"My skin's as tough as dragon hide," Kohaku growled. "It takes more than a little acid to melt me."

"Well, it doesn't matter I suppose," Lyser said with an evil smile. "If you have any sort of intelligence in that head of yours you should understand by now that there's no way you can win against me. There's no limit to the amount of acid I can produce, and as you can see I can melt any attack you throw at me in an instant." The two warriors stopped and stood their ground. "My original offer still stands: come help me find the Mother Lode with your dragon senses, and I'll let you live." He extended his hand and with it his final offer. "Come on now. Be smart and lend me a hand. There's no point in dying needlessly."

_Hm..._ Kohaku thought. _He's right about one thing: I can't beat him if he keeps melting my attacks, but I can't give up, stupid or not. That gnome was my friend, and what this jerk did to him was unforgivable!_ She bared her teeth in anger at the thought of that poor old man. All he wanted to do was find out if his dreams had been real or not, and now he'd never get the answer.

"I've got plenty of reasons to keep fighting!" she growled. "And I'm not going to die either!" She couldn't let Lyser get away with this, but how could she stop him at this rate? _Come on Kohaku, think! There has to be some way to sneak a hit in on this guy!_

As she wracked her brains trying to come up with a strategy, something on the ground behind Lyser caught her eye. _That's it! I know how to stop him!_ Kohaku let out a roar (figuratively) and charged head-on at her prey.

"What? Is that it?" Lyser asked with a smirk. "I thought you'd come up with something better than running right at me." He shrugged his shoulders as acid bubbled from his hands. "Oh well, can't be helped. I suppose you can still lead me to the Mother Lode even if some parts are missing." He fired a burst of acid, but Kohaku ducked out of the way, still charging forward. Lyser held up his other hand, ready to fire another salvo, when to his surprise Kohaku dove to the ground, sliding towards him like she was making for home base. _What the...?_ the dark mage wondered._ What is she doing?_ He redirected his attack downward, catching Kohaku's shoulder and once more damaging both her clothes and her body. She winced in pain but slid right past the dark mage. Like lightning she snatched her discarded sock off the ground, leapt to her feet, and pulled it over Lyser's eyes.

"What is this?!" Lyser cried, clawing at the offending footwear. But Kohaku pushed her bare foot into his back and tied the sock into a tight, make-shift blindfold.

"I'm playing a new game: hide-and-seek!" Kohaku said, letting go of the blindfold and rearing back her fist. "Suishoryū Kon!" she cried as she nailed Lyser in the back. The villain gasped in pain and surprise as he sprawled forward. Kohaku leapt at him, pulling one knee to her chest. "Suishoryū Osu!" she shouted, stomping on her opponent with a mass of crystal. _It's working!_ the young Dragon Slayer thought.

"It's over Mr. Bad Guy!" Kohaku explained as Lyser struggled to his feet, clearly reeling from that attack. "You can't block my attacks if you can't see them. And you can't get that blindfold off either: try to tear it off and I'll catch you with my magic before you can finish, and if you try to melt it, you'll get a face full of acid. I'm _mad_ now mister, so give up and go to jail before I _really _let you have it!"

"D… Don't…" Lyser huffed. "DON'T BE SO ARROGANT YOU BRAT!" To Kohaku's shock, Lyser sprayed acid directly from his face, melting the blindfold and unmasking one _very_ angry dark wizard. Lyser shot Kohaku a look filled with murderous intent as acid flowed from his eyes like horrifying tears. "Did you think you had me beaten with such a cheap little trick you stupid wench?! I'm the leader of the Black Slime Guild! I'm too powerful to fall to an attack like that! And as you can see, my entire _body_ can secrete unlimited acid! And guess what else: it can't hurt me! Even my clothes are specially made to withstand my magic, so any attempt to turn it against me is utterly _pointless!_"

As he said this, acid began to flow from every pore of his body, soaking the dark mage and making him look like he was covered in slime. His body went limp and trembled with rage. "No more Mr. Nice Guy," he snarled. "You really hurt me with those last attacks, so before I cart you off and force you to do as I say, I'm going to take my time and slowly, torturously dissolve you bit by bit, until not even your own guildmates will recognize you! ACID WAVE!" he cried as he unleashed a torrent of purple liquid at Kohaku, far too wide and too fast for her to run away from.

Kohaku screamed and threw her arms up, bracing for the burning, painful impact.

But it seemed like help was still a long way off.

"Aw crap," Mikado grumbled, trying to catch his breath. "How did I not think that this was going to happen? We trust that cat to get us to Kohaku, and now he's gone."

"Well, can you blame him?" Rashid asked, also recovering from trying to chase Buddy. "Ko-chan is the only family he's got. Of course he's going to be worried about her."

"And you're not?"

"Are you?"

Mikado thought that one over. "I guess not."

"I'm sure Ko-chan can handle herself. They don't call them Dragon Slayers for nothing, you know."

"You've got a point."

"And more than that, there's just something that makes you trust her, you know?"

"That would be her naivety."

"You know what I mean."

Mikado did. "All right, but I still don't like what that guy said about this Lyser creep. We need to find a way to track her on our own." The duo thought it over for a moment. "Well, that Atlas guy had a communications lacrima…" Mikado mentioned.

"You think that could help us find them?" Rashid asked.

"Probably not, but it's better than nothing. At the very least, I may be able to provide Kohaku with a momentary distraction."

"It's something I guess." Rashid said as he requipped a handful of knives and handed them to Mikado. "Here, use these to mark your way back for now. We pretty much ran in a straight line to get here, but be careful. We don't want anyone to end up salamander poop after we came this far."

"Right," Mikado said, accepting the gift.

"Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out where Neko-kun flew off to, and I'll use the same trick to keep track of my progress." He threw a handful of knives to the ground, creating a glowing blue magic pattern. "Checkpoint Circle," he explained. "I can briefly connect two points in space for teleportation with this. If I find Ko-chan, it'll bring us back here. Either way, we should both try to return to this spot in ten minutes."

"Wish you'd set this up before we ran off."

Rashid smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. Just get going okay?"

"Roger."

Further in the cave, Lyser stood gloating before a highly disheveled Kohaku. The poor girl had survived the attack, but it had left a mark. Her whole body looked sun-burned, and all that remained of her clothes was just enough of her shirt and skirt to cover the important parts. Her arms, shoulders, legs and belly were all bare; even her mining helmet and ribbons had been dissolved by that blast. Yet despite this and her ragged breathing, she still stood her ground

Her opponent, meanwhile, was completely untouched, despite the acid causing the floor around him to turn to sludge. "Now I must say, that is impressive," Lyser said, his voice now inflected with both his mocking tone and angry scorn. "I hadn't expected you to be able to cover your entire body in crystals, much less for that to so thoroughly weaken my magic. It almost makes me wonder which would make the better weapon, you or the Mother Lode."

"Weapon?" Kohaku asked. "What do you mean?"

Lyser gave her a look of derisive amusement. "The old man _did_ tell you about the Mother Lode, didn't he? About the vast amounts of magic it contains? Do you have any idea how much power we're talking? A power equal to a vast army. The man who acquires the Mother Lode will become invincible. Sounds rather tempting wouldn't you say?

Kohaku gave him a defiant glare as an answer. "No way, Mr. Bad Guy!" she barked. "Not to me!" Lyser shook his head in disgust.

"And that's why you're going to die," he explained. "Once I have the Mother Lode, I'll have no use for you, for someone too stupid to appreciate the value of power or to know when their own is lacking."

Kohaku simply continued to give him a defiant look and turned to the side, displaying the Fox Tail guild mark on her shoulder. "I've got all I need in this mark. Like Rashid said, Fox Tail is more than a guild, it's a family. I have a family now, and they're counting on me. And that's why I'm not going to die!"

Lyser sneered at the young mage. "People like you disgust me. You're too stupid to recognize when you're outclassed. You get yourself killed because you think your metaphysical pixie-dust will let you beat superior wizards, but I've got news for you girl: _power _begets power, not family or friends. All your nonsense does is make you weak."

"KOHAKU!" someone cried, their voice echoing through the cave, accompanied by the sound of frantic wing beats. Kohaku and Lyser turned to find Buddy hovering at the entrance to the room, trying to catch his breath. "Kohaku, are you okay?" he asked.

A truly sadistic smile crept across Lyser's face. "Well, well, just what I needed: an example."

_An example?_ Kohaku wondered. _Of what…?_ It clicked. "BUDDY! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Buddy looked hurt. "You don't want me around anymore, Kohaku?" he whimpered, tears in his eyes.

"NO! BUDDY!" Kohaku cried, just as a burst of acid struck the wall behind the flying cat. Buddy turned his head in shock, his eyes wide as he watched the acid eat through the cave wall. The two foxes breathlessly turned to the source of the attack, while Lyser just smiled.

"If you still don't understand how badly I outclass you," the dark mage said, "then maybe I should change my approach. You'll see how weak you truly are when I kill your precious family one by one."

"BUDDY RUN!" Kohaku shrieked. The cat, not needing to be told again, made a break for the exit, only for a stray burst of acid to just barely miss his face as it splashed off the wall in front of him. Buddy instinctively flew away from the escape route, but again only just missed another faceful of acid. He tried again to make it to the door, but Lyser expertly anticipated his moves, chasing him around the room like a cat playing with a mouse.

"STOP IT!" Kohaku screamed as she charged at Lyser. "SUISHORYŪ…!" But before she could launch an attack, Lyser flicked his fingers, causing acid to spray from the ground into Kohaku's legs and stomach. The Dragon Slayer screamed and fell to the ground.

Lyser only cackled at her misery and at Buddy's terror. "My, my, this is more fun than I ever could have imagined. Unfortunately I have a schedule to keep, so I think I'll put this game of cat and mouse to an end." He threw both hands in the air and shouted "ACID RULE!" The dark mage called forth a geyser of acid, spraying the deadly liquid everywhere.

"BUDDY!" Kohaku screamed. Using what little strength she had left the girl leapt into the air, pulled the cat to her chest, and generated a crystal coating along her back, using her body as a shield against the vicious downpour. When it finally stop, Kohaku was kneeling on the ground, curled around her closest friend, her shoulders bleeding and heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

"Now do you understand your own weakness?" Lyser scoffed. "No matter how much you love your little family, your magic is worthless in the face of my own. You're nothing but a liability to those you treasure most. I could easily kill them all and make you watch every agonizing moment. But I am a generous man, one in great need of a service only you can give me. Lead me to the Mother Lode, and I'll let your friends go. What do you say?"

The trembling in Kohaku's shoulders died down and she gently set a horrified Buddy on the floor. She then turned to her tormentor, but to Lyser's surprise her eyes showed not even a hint of submission, but rather pure, white-hot rage.

"How _dare_ you?!" she snarled. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HURT BUDDY?!" she screamed as she leapt to her feet and fired another pillar of crystal at Lyser.

"Rage all you want, your magic will never overcome your own stupidity!" Lyser cried with glee as he unleashed another round of acid. But the pillar didn't melt this time: it plowed through the attack and nailed Lyser in the chest.

"What… What the hell…?!" he gasped, the wind knocked out of him. "How did you…?!" But before he could finish his sentence Kohaku closed the distance and knocked him across the room.

"You killed the gnome, you threatened my family, and you tried to kill Buddy!" Kohaku shouted. Lyser got up and shot more acid at her, but the Dragon Slayer flipped out of the way and landed on the opposite wall.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" she screamed. She encased her body in a crystalline cone and kicked off against the wall with all her might. "SUISHORYŪ YARI!" she cried as she shot off the wall, her body cocooned in a crystal spear sprouting from the kick-off point.

"THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" Lyser screamed as he prepared a massive attack acid attack. "ACID WAVE!" he cried, unleashing the same torrential blast that Kohaku had barely deflected earlier. But it was no use: the spear – now only dulled – plunged forward, scooping the dark mage up on the tip. _What's going on here?! _Lyserg screamed in his head, his thoughts a panicked mess. He tried forcing more acid onto the spear, but it was no use. _My magic should utterly destroy this damned thing, but it's hardly phasing it at all! Is it possible that her anger has made her attack that much stronger than mine?! That's insane! WHAT KIND OF MAGIC _IS_ THIS?!_

Then the Black Slime mage caught something out of the corner of his eye. His expression morphed into one of abject terror when he realized that they were headed straight for the wall. "NO!" he screamed. "STOP STOP STOP STOOOOOOOOP!"

Too late. Kohaku smashed the dark wizard right _through_ the wall. But it didn't stop there. She crashed through another and another and _another_ until she finally ran out of steam and shattered the spear, flinging the broken and unconscious Lyser to the ground. Kohaku landed on her bare feet and glared at her opponent as she tried to catch her breath.

"Don't you _ever_ threaten my family again, got it?!" she cried, the last words in this fight.

"Kohaku?" Buddy asked meekly as he fluttered into the cave. Kohaku turned to Buddy, and her expression immediately softened as she ran over to her old friend and hugged him tight.

"Are you okay Buddy?" she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine Kohaku," Buddy whispered as he hugged her back. "I'm sorry. I got you hurt."

"It's not that bad," Kohaku reassured him.

Buddy merely nodded and hugged her tighter. Suddenly he stopped and turned his gaze upward. His eyes widened beneath his glasses in sheer wonder. "Kohaku _look_," he gasped. Kohaku looked up and gasped as well. The entire room was littered from floor to ceiling with the most beautiful, sparkling, rose-colored crystals she had ever seen, and in greater quantities than she had thought possible.

"Kohaku," Buddy could barely breathe out. "We've found it. The Mother Lode."


	7. Chapter 7: The Mother Lode

Chapter 7: The Mother Lode

_What the heck was _that? Mikado wondered as he sprinted through the caves. _I was heading back to get that lacrima, when all of a sudden something _huge_ smashed through the wall with Kohaku inside of it. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm going to find out!_ He followed the newly carved path – silently praying that whatever it was hadn't left the cave unstable – until he found himself in a room he couldn't believe existed. Every inch of the walls and ceiling was covered in lacrima, all of them giving off tremendous power.

"This… This is amazing…" Mikado breathed in awe. "So much magic… So this is the Mother Lode…"

"I know, right?" a familiar voice – Kohaku's – responded.

"Oh," Mikado said, "There you are Koha– " Mikado gasped and froze like a statue at the sight of Kohaku, whose clothes were now reduced to mere rags, the remains of her shirt and skirt just barely hiding her underwear. "Ko… Ko… Koha…" Mikado stammered, trembling so violently he was barely able to keep a finger pointed at her. "Wha- Wha- What ha-ha-happened to your…"

Kohaku tilted her head, confused, then looked herself over. "Oh!" she said, turning to survey the extent of the damage (and giving Mikado an eyeful, much to his embarrassment and other feelings). "I guess my clothes got melted in the fight with that acid guy." She looked at Mikado, a curious expression on her face. "Are you okay, Mikado?" she asked. "Did you get hurt fighting the sock-hat man?"

Mikado shook himself out of his stupor just long enough to tell her "No. Why?"

"Because your nose is bleeding."

Mikado's hand shot to his nose and withdrew it find, to his horror, that it was stained red. _Oh crap!_ Mikado exclaimed in his head, as his hand flew back to his nose. _Please don't let her know what that means. If there's a god out there _please_ don't let her know what that means!_

Buddy, meanwhile, was watching the whole scene play out, a suspicious look on his face as he pondered Mikado.

_ Don't say anything cat!_ Mikado thought, as if Buddy could hear him. _Please don't say it!_

"Ooooohh," Buddy purred, his tail mischievously flicking back and forth as he gave Mikado a sly look. "I know what's going on here."

_No. No you don't."_

"What is it Buddy?" Kohaku asked, bending over to talk to her friend and causing a fresh stream of blood to squirt from Mikado's nostrils. "Is he sick or something?"

"Oh he's sick all right," Buddy purred. "Clearly…"

_You mangy little._

"Mikado's allergic to melted cloth!" Buddy proudly proclaimed, without a hint of irony.

"Really?" Kohaku asked.

"Makes sense, right?"

"Is that true Mikado?" Kohaku asked.

"YES!" Mikado shouted, struggling to keep his voice under control and his beet red face covered. "YES THE CAT'S RIGHT! EXACTLY RIGHT! MAKES PERFECT SENSE! DOESN'T IT?!"

"Oh, okay." Kohaku replied.

As Mikado fumbled around in his pockets for a tissue, he looked up and caught another glimpse of Kohaku, only now noticing her bleeding shoulders. He sighed, cleared his head, and slipped off his jacket. "Here," he said, draping it over the young dragon slayer. "In any case, you really ought to cover up. Don't want you catching cold or anything."

"Oh yeah, right," Kohaku murmured, the thought only now occurring to her. "Thanks Mikado," she said with a smile. "Where would I be without you?

"Can't imagine," Mikado muttered as he did up her buttons. "Anyway, we should probably…"

"Holy cow, did anyone else see that?!" Rashid exclaimed as he burst onto the scene. Mikado blushed and leapt away from Kohaku, hands in the air. Rashid failed to notice, his eyes instead hovering over the unconscious form of Lyser. "Ko-chan, what did you _do_ to that guy?!"

"Huh?" Kohaku asked. She glanced at Mikado and a look of horror came over her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Honest!" she cried, bowing profusely to both mages. "If I knew Mikado was allergic to…" Mikado slapped his hand over her mouth.

"I think he's talking about the bad guy, Kohaku," he muttered through gritted teeth. A thought struck him. "Come to think of it, where is…" he looked around and found Lyser lying in a crumpled heap on the ground a few feet away. _Whoa,_ he thought. _Way to go Kohaku. Melted clothes are one thing, but you _demolished _that guy._

"Oh yeah, that guy," Kohaku said. "He made me really mad, so I beat him up."

"Wow," Rashid murmured as he strolled over to the group. "You really are something Ko-chan. I gotta hand it to you. Unlike that guy on the floor there, you really don't _cave_ under pressure, huh?" he asked with a wink.

_I'm _something_? _Kohaku wondered. _What kind of something is he talking about? Wait a minute… _She smiled and burst into laughter. "Cave! I get it! Cause we're… Heeheehee…!"

Rashid sighed but smiled. "Sheesh, after everything that happened today I was starting to get worried, but it looks like I've still got it."

"You've got something alright," Mikado grumbled as he turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going Mikado?" Kohaku asked, just watching him make his way to the new "door."

"I'm going back now," Mikado replied. "The mission's over, so…" He turned back to see Kohaku's expression darken. _Crap,_ he thought. _That was stupid Mikado. Couldn't have been a little more tactful about it?_ "I'm sorry, I…" he began.

"HOLY COW!" Rashid cried, his eyes filled with shock and wonder at the sight of the lacrima filling the room. "Ko-chan, Miki-kun, Neko-kun, do you guys see all of this?! Can you feel it?! I can't believe…" he stopped as Kohaku silently strode past him, her face grim. "Ko-chan…?"

Kohaku placed her hand on one of the crystals on the wall, gazing intently into its rosy depths, at her own distorted reflection. She took a deep breath and turned to face the others. "This is it guys," she said. "This is what we came down here to look for." She turned to Mikado, her eyes seemed to plead with him. "I know it's probably silly of me to want to do this now, now that… Well… You know… " She fidgeted nervously as she tried to think of how to give voice to her thoughts. "I know that without the old gnome, we don't really have a job anymore, but I still want to take some of it with us… Because…"

Mikado sighed, but his expression softened as he walked over to Kohaku and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, I get it," he said. "Why not? Maybe the old man will see us from heaven or something like that." He reached back to get his pick axe, only to find himself feeling empty air. "What the…? Hey Rashid?" he called over his shoulder. "You have the mining tools?"

The knife mage shot him a bewildered look and quickly glanced over the room. "Yeah wait a minute, what _did_ happen to those? Did we drop them when the Black Slime grunts attacked us?"

"Are you kidding me?" Mikado groaned. "We lost track of the stuff we needed to actually _do_ the job?"

"It's okay," Kohaku said, forming a crystal pick axe around her right hand. "I think I can get this." With precise, careful strokes that Mikado wasn't even aware the girl was capable of, Kohaku broke off four large shards – each a foot long and several inches think – and passed them around the group, one for each Fox Tail mage.

"Man," Rashid said, holding his crystal in one hand and rubbing the back of his head with the other. "I wonder what we should tell people when we get back to the surface." Mikado's eyes widened as a horrible thought struck him like a punch in the face.

"Holy crap!" he gasped. "How are we even going to _get_ back?! Was anyone keeping track of where we were going?! We don't even have a clue where we are, much less a way out of here!"

"Yes we doooo," Kohaku cooed in a sing-song voice. She smiled and thumped her free fist against her chest. "You have the world's greatest spelunker right here. Papa taught me how to navigate through caves, and once I've been down a tunnel I can remember my way around perfectly."

"Really?" Rashid asked. "That's pretty amazing." Kohaku proudly nodded in assent.

"So follow me boys!" she cried, spinning on her bare heels and pumping her fist in the air. "It's back up top we go!" Mikado, on the other hand, sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Jeez," he complained. "We lost our tools, we didn't even think about how we were getting back to the surface when we were done; this is an embarrassment to Fox Tail. We're going to have to think things through a lot better next time around, or we're probably going to get ourselves killed."

"Yeah, you've got a point there," Rashid agreed, slightly embarrassed himself. But he snapped out of that train of thought when something caught his attention. "Hey Ko-chan?" he asked. "Where'd your shoes go? And why are you wearing Mikado's jacket?"

"Wow, aren't we the observant one today?" Mikado had to ask.

And so the young foxes began to make their way back towards the world above, their mission completed but some questions still unresolved.

"Hey Ko-chan?" Rashid asked as he watched the Crystal Dragon Slayer lead them back through the labyrinthine caverns, giving her a good once-over. "Are you okay? You're not cold or anything, are you?" he asked, nervously scratching the side of his head.

"Nope," Kohaku chirped. "I'm good. I lived underground with Papa, remember? I'm pretty tough. And besides, Mikado's jacket is nice and warm, like a big hug!"

"Well, that's good to know," the knife mage sighed, though now feeling a little suspicious of the bloody tissues Mikado had shoved up his nostrils.

"Rashid? Is something wrong?" Kohaku asked. "You're voice sounds kinda stiff."

"You noticed, huh?" Rashid asked with a weak chuckle. "To tell you the truth, I was kind of worried about you. You were really upset when that creep said he killed that old man, so I just wanted to know; are you going to be okay?"

Kohaku's expression turned sad, yet thoughtful. "I don't know. I've never really lost someone like that. Yeah, I got angry about it, but... now that I beat him, it just doesn't feel… _real_ yet, you know?" Rashid bowed his head, and turned his gaze, now clouded by memories, to the ground.

"I'm not really sure I _do_ know, Kohaku," he said softly. "I… I've never really experienced death in a normal way. I know that sounds weird but I've had a weird life. So I can't really tell you what's normal or not." He looked up to find Kohaku staring at him, perplexed. He knew at that point that he'd gotten too close to something he really shouldn't talk about.

"Anyway," Mikado cut in, thumping Rashid on the shoulder. "We're going to need to get those wounds on your shoulders dressed as soon as we get to the surface, Kohaku. Maybe there'll be some supplies in one of the huts or something. We should probably get something for that head injury of yours too, Rashid. Not that it's going to help anything."

Rashid chuckled. "Got me there." The conversation now over, Kohaku bounced ahead of the group to lead the way. "Thanks man," Rashid whispered, hoping the girl's dragon senses wouldn't catch his words.

"Don't mention it."

The foxes continued to follow the dragon slayer through the twists and turns of the tunnel, until they finally found their way back to the surface – to the vivid green trees, to Mossdeep, and to the fiery orange sky.

"Aw man," Mikado groaned as he shielded his eyes. "How long were we down there for anyway?"

"No idea," Rashid answered. "It felt like forever didn't it? I can't tell if that's a sunset or a sunrise we're looking at."

"It's so pretty," Kohaku sighed.

"Don't stare at it too long Kohaku," Buddy chastised her. "Or the sun will poke you in the eyes."

"There's something wrong with that statement, but I can't quite tell where," Mikado grumbled. _It does look nice though,_ he thought. They all stood there admiring the darkening (or brightening?) sky, until something caught Mikado's eye: the huts of Mossdeep, now shattered piles of splintered wood. "Aw man," he murmured in disbelief. "Those creeps really trashed the place didn't they?"

Kohaku sprinted past him and over to a clearing by some trees. She took the lacrima she was carrying – her evidence of the Mother Lode – and wedged it into the ground. The others followed her cue and stood their crystals next to it, forming a makeshift memorial to Hypha. Kohaku knelt before it and uttered a silent prayer.

"There," she said, standing to face her companions. "It's not much, but I've done everything I can. I've made my peace with it." Mikado and Rashid gave her reassuring smiles and Buddy nodded solemnly.

"My, my," an old voice croaked. "That's a pretty little thing you've put together. I have to ask though; what's it for?" Kohaku gasped, frozen in place. Part of her wanted to turn around and confirm that her ears weren't playing tricks on her, and the other part was too afraid they were to try.

"Well I'll be..." Mikado said, a half-smile on his face. "Guess it takes a bit more than some third-rate dark guild to take the spit out of you, huh old man?"

Kohaku whirled around and found herself face-to-face with Hypha. His skin was raw, dried blood was caked on his forehead, and he was dressed in little more than a ragged cloak, but he was very much alive.

"Mr. Gnome," Kohaku choked, happy tears in her eyes.

"He grew back!" Buddy cried in shock. Mikado face-palmed and Rashid started laughing his head off at the cat's absurd idea.

"Grew back nothing," the old man snorted. "Those punks never had me licked in the first place! That cocky, pink-haired nitwit thought he killed me after one douse of that half-hearted acid of his, but we mining folk are tough! The moment he left I shook it off and dug out an old communications lacrima, which reminds me, we'd better get out of here."

"What for?" Kohaku asked, head tilted.

"No time to explain, follow me." The old man led them through the trees to a small clearing some distance from the cave. "Thank-you," Hypha huffed, tired out by the long walk (and the long day).

"Don't mention it," Mikado said. "Okay now, question time. First of all, _how are you still alive?_ That Lyser guy said he killed you, and from the looks of you he certainly didn't go easy on you."

"That is correct," Hypha answered. "Some time after you went into the cave I returned to my house, only to be met by those dark guild ruffians. They beat me savagely, and I'm afraid that in misguided words of defiance I accidentally exposed you to them. Their leader – Lyser did you say? – tried to force me to reveal all my knowledge of the Mother Lode using you children as a bargaining chip. But what could I do? If I kept my mouth shut, I would risk him taking out his anger on you, but if I told him what little I did know it could lead him right to you. And I've met men like him before in my younger days – they may say they'll spare people, but they immediately go back on their word to satisfy their own twisted bloodlust. Either answer I gave was a trap."

"So what did you do?" Kohaku asked.

"Yeah! What did you do?" Buddy echoed. He and Kohaku sat on their knees before Hypha, listening with the intensity of children hearing a favorite story.

"I decided to risk it on the chance that he would not find you in the vastness of the caves," the old man continued, "so I refused to tell him anything. My defiance angered that evil man, so he drenched me in acid and left me to die. As for your question, young man," he said, turning to Mikado, "I'm afraid I can't truly answer it. I shook the acid off before it did enough damage to kill me, but how I survived that long – and the minimal injuries I now possess – I cannot explain. I will probably never be able to."

"Woooow," Kohaku breathed in amazement. "That was an amazing story!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement. "Tell it again!"

"Yeah, tell it again!" Buddy parroted. "I liked the part where the old gnome stood up to the bad guys!"

"I'M NOT A GNOME, DAMN IT!" Hypha barked. He shook his head in an effort to regain his composure, but he found he could not meet the young wizards' collective gaze.

"I must ask you children for forgiveness," he said softly. "What I did back there was callous and careless. I knew that those Black Slime monsters were hunting for the Mother Lode well before you arrived. And I knew that they were dangerous, and that I was risking your lives by sending you after those lacrima. Blame my lapse of judgment in not warning you on senility, but my sending you after the Mother Lode, knowing very well what might happen, was beyond foolish. I let my passion for my dream take a stranglehold on me, and for that, I am truly, truly sorry. Can you children ever forgive me?"

"Of course we do, Mr. Gnome!" Kohaku cheered.

"Yeah, you bet!" Buddy chimed in.

"I mean, we did kick their butts and everything," Rashid joined in.

"Yeah, no harm no foul," Mikado finished. Hypha could only stare, slack-jawed, dumbstruck by the ease with which they could overlook his folly. He trembled as tears of both regret and happiness filled his eyes.

"Thank you…" he stammered. "Thank you all so much." He wiped his tears on his burned arm and smiled at the mages. "I suppose that this is all I can ask for – certainly more than I can expect. You children can return to your guild now. I'm canceling the job. The Mother Lode will have to stay a legend I suppose…"

"Huh?" Kohaku asked. "But why? We already found the Mother Lode and everything, so why would you cancel it now?"

"You what…?" the old man could barely speak, the wind taken out of him once again by sheer surprise.

"Yeah!" Kohaku continued. "Those gems we brought back were from the Mother Lode." She stood up and spun on her bare heels. "I'll go get them right now!"

"NO WAIT! STOP!" Hypha hollered. Kohaku slowed to a halt and turned back to him, confused. "You can't go back there now," the old man said. "Listen. The moment I was able to stand again I dug through the remains of my house and found the old communications lacrima I used to contact the official guilds about the job and sent a transmission to the Council, calling for their aid in stopping the Black Slime. They're due to arrive here any minute now to arrest those villains. But if you go back now, after defeating that dark guild, they may arrest you too."

"What?!" Kohaku cried. "Why would they do that?! We're the good guys!"

"Maybe the Council's evil?" Buddy suggested.

"It's just the way things are," Rashid explained. "The Council has forbidden battle between guilds, even dark ones."

"And then there's the fact that one of us is an _ex-jewel thief,_" Mikado pointed out.

"It doesn't matter now," Hypha cut in. "They're not going to find you out here. They'll be too busy around the caves to search this far out, and if you leave now, they'll be no wiser."

"Right," Kohaku said with a nod.

"Wait just a second," Mikado interrupted. "There's still the matter of payment for the job. You're going to send us the money once you get the mine going again, right?"

"Mikado!" Kohaku scolded him. "We agreed to help him for free, remember?"

"You and the cat maybe, but I never did… Well, now that he can pay us back, anyway."

The old man sighed. "About that…" he began.

"Oh boy, not this…" Mikado muttered.

"I'm sorry again, and I know it's selfish, but I can't pay you back. I plan to seal the entrance to the cave as soon as the Council wizards finish rounding up those crooks. Beyond the fact that I don't deserve to see the Mother Lode, I can't let it be mined. Those lacrima are too powerful, and if people like Lyser continue to seek it there will be no end to the bloodshed caused by both the lust for those gems and the power they contain. It's best they never see the light of day. I'll sell those crystals you brought as soon as I can and send the money to you, but that's the best I can do."

"But what about your dream?" Kohaku asked sadly.

"My dream?" Hypha chuckled. "My dream was realized the moment you children told me you found the Mother Lode. Just knowing it exists, that I was right all along, is enough for me. No money or lacrima can ever replace that. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart."

"You're welcome," Kohaku said with a nod.

And that was the end of it. The Fox Tail mages made arrangements with the old man for billing, and Hypha left to finish what he started, though not before helping bandage their wounds and letting them know that he planned to move to the city once this was all over. As night fell, the foxes hurried on their way, eager to find a village they could hire a cart from (though Kohaku was less than enthusiastic about that).

"So how'd you like your first job?" Mikado asked.

"It was great!" Kohaku cheered. "I hope _all_ of our jobs will be this much fun from now on!"

"_Our_ jobs?" Rashid asked.

"Yeah, you, Mikado, Buddy and me. We're a team!"

"I did _not_ agree to that," Mikado complained.

"Umm… Kohaku?" Buddy whispered. "Should I really be on that team? I didn't…"

"It's okay Buddy," Kohaku reassured him. "Don't be so hard on yourself. If it wasn't for you, I would've lost to that meanie. And besides, I could never imagine leaving you behind; You're my family Buddy."

"Kohaku…" Buddy sobbed, burying himself in her chest and hugging her tight.

"Just find a less dangerous way to get me going next time, okay?" she asked with a wink. "Anyway, let's have a cheer, gang! We won our first mission! Case closed!" she cried.

"Case closed!" Buddy echoed.

"Case closed!" Rashid joined in with a laugh.

"This isn't going to become a thing, is it?" Mikado muttered to himself.

"The first thing we're going to do tomorrow…" Kohaku began, pausing for dramatic effect. "Is go find a restaurant and celebrate our victory!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air and jumping for joy. But she may have overdone it. With that a ripping sound cut the celebration short. The remains of Kohaku's shirt slipped out from beneath Mikado's jacket and fluttered to the ground.

Everyone was quiet.

"Actually," Mikado said, breaking the silence. "I think we should take care of _that_ first."


End file.
